Mass Effect Digression
by TerrorK
Summary: A quarian from The Migrant Fleet goes out on his pilgrimage, intending to bring back a gift that will change the quarians forever. An original Mass Effect story surrounding original characters to avoid canon interference. i.e. no Shepard and co.
1. Chapter 1

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 1**

Elli'Neda nar Geddes drifted out of her once peaceful slumber to the sounds of metal scraping against metal and the rhythmic squeaking of greased bearings and wheels. This was perfectly normal to her of course, for even the newest ships of The Migrant Fleet were rarely quiet, and if they were it meant repair crews would either have it rattling and banging again soon or there might be trouble. Still, when one was used to sleeping in a different ship with different sounds, it wasn't hard to be brought out of the land of dreams and into harsh reality once more.

Feeling a slight chill upon her bare arms, Elli tugged at the sheets and blankets to cover herself some more. She pulled a little too hard, expecting some resistance from the bedding, and ending up with far more than she had expected. Turning her head she noticed an empty space beside her. Rolling over and sitting up a little, her eyes moved from the bed to the far wall. It was dark in the sleeping quarters, but starlight from the adequately sized windows nearby bathed the room in a soft cerulean glow that didn't take her sleep infused eyes long to adjust to. A smile came to her quarian mouth shortly before words left it.

"You're lucky your ship drifts at the edge of the fleet, or you might give some poor elder a fright."

Her playful words were understandable, for the quarian she regarded was standing before one of the windows without a stitch of clothing upon him. Yalo'Pala nar Lerta stared vacantly out at the endless expanse of space before him, taking it all in. He let out a sigh, Elli's attempt at humour clearly failing to have the attempted impact. If he thought it was funny, whatever part that did was keeping it hidden within. With eyes still fixed on something beyond, he eventually responded.

"How many billions of stars do you think are out there, Elli?"

The blunt and serious nature of his question seemed to catch the female quarian off-guard, as whatever remained of her already waning smile dissolved into an expression of uneasy puzzlement. She stammered to try and come up with an answer to satisfy Yalo, but he spoke before she could get out anything coherent.

"Billions upon billions of worlds. And that's only what we know. The universe is _endless_." A pause. "All that out there, and none of it for us. For we are a race forever doomed to fly amongst the stars and not be one with them."

There was a long, awkward silence between them, during which Elli could only be reminded of the fact that this was why she both loved and hated him. He had always been somewhat of a philosopher, often contemplating the universe and life. He had a unique way of looking at things, almost like that of a child, but wrapped in a maturity and wisdom no child could possess. It wasn't uncommon for him to just come up with a seemingly unrelated comment in the middle of any conversation, or even during moments of silence, of depth and insight about the world around them. Sometimes it would be something beautiful and poetic, with a purity and elegance to it, even if the subject was one that few would find any beauty in. However, sometimes it could be grim, cynical and even morbid, and therein lay the problem.

Elli would sometimes worry about Yalo and the fact his mind would sometimes go to such dark places and explore such horrid subjects. His thoughts would drift through ideas and concepts, theories and practices, and she thought if one were to actually experience some of these for real they'd be scarred for life. He could make what many would consider a worst case scenario seem pleasant by comparison to that of his own. These disturbing moments didn't come up often thankfully, but enough to make Elli feel a little scared. Of what she never quite knew. Of him? Of the thoughts themselves? Of the idea that he might be right? Probably all of these to a certain degree, and more.

"Don't think so negatively," Elli stated. "Now is the last time we shall have together for a long time. Try to be happy while we have it."

"That's what makes these moments all the more hard to live," Yalo responded, finally looking over one shoulder to meet Elli's gaze. "These moments may be the last time we have together at all."

Yalo's heart sank as he looked at his loved one. She had joined him aboard the _Lerta_ that evening and they had made love that night for the first time, and likely the last. That very fact was the only reason such a moment of intimacy had even come up, quarians traditionally waiting until their return before copulating. It wouldn't be long until he was on his pilgrimage and alone in the galaxy. Away from his people. Away from her. It was a day he was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Unlike many others of his species who went out to find something of value out of chance, he had plans he had been formulating for quite some time. He knew what he was bringing back to the fleet. Aside from Elli, it was all he cared about, and he found himself now caught in the abyss between one love and another. But he had decided that despite what his heart might tell him, he had made the right choice in leaving her. He would always love her, and probably find himself regretting his decision in the future, of that he had no doubt. But sometimes one must give up something precious in order to achieve a goal.

His gaze shifted from Elli to an open locker on the wall nearby, in which sat his environmental suit. Staring at his naked reflection in the thick visor, he attuned his senses to the feel of the room around him and breathed in deeply, savouring it. This would be the last time he'd exist as a pure quarian, for soon he would put on that suit and it would never come off again. Not while he drew breath.

"Don't say that," he heard Elli say from behind him. His last words had left her speechless for a while. "We'll be together once you return to the Migrant Fleet." She paused. "Unless I'm on _my_ pilgrimage at the time."

A smile came to her mouth, the first in a while. "It's a shame we can't go off together."

"No!"

Yalo's response was sharp and loud, which made Elli jump. He looked angry as he had spun around, but her look of confused fear caused both his features and his voice to soften again soon after. As he spoke, she noted how full of concern and fear his voice was.

"I can't... I can't let that happen. You have to be free of me. My future is my own, and I won't let you follow the path I've set before me. I can't let you. You must remain pure, as you are."

Elli didn't know how to respond to him. He approached her, sitting on the edge of her bed. She pulled the bedding up to her chest, as if to shield herself from him. As he stared at her with loving eyes that didn't seem to match his words, she could only manage to whimper his name quietly.

"Yalo?"

"Like all of our people, you mustn't be contaminated," he said, placing one three-fingered hand upon her shoulder gently. "You must be safe. You must be clean. You must be untainted. I will only contaminate you."

"I... I don't understand."

Yalo sighed, rising from the bed and returning to his place before the window. Several seconds passed before he said anything else, with only the dulled sounds of chugging and grinding from the engines around them on the filtered air. When he did, there was a weight to his voice unlike Elli had remembered hearing before. His words were no longer poetic and musical, but blunt and serious.

"There's something I need to tell you, Elli. I don't expect we'll see each other again, and I think you need to know some things about what lies ahead for me. That much I owe you at least."

"Don't talk like that," Elli said, fighting back sobs and tears. "Very few quarians lose their lives out there, despite the danger. You'll be fine."

"You don't understand," Yalo went on, her words seeming to have no emotional impact on him. "My journey will be long. Very long. In fact, I don't expect any quarian will have ever, or will ever, embark on a pilgrimage that will span so long a time." He paused. "I have a purpose. It is my destiny. A destiny of success or failure I do not know, but it is _my_ calling, that I do know."

There was another long silent period. Elli was the one to break it.

"I'll wait. However long it takes, I can wait." A pause. "I love you... Yalo'Pala nar Lerta."

"Again, you don't understand. There's more." Another sigh, deeper than the previous ones. "I'm going to... I'm not..."

Yalo trailed off, then muttered a rare quarian curse into his chest. Another loud sigh followed and he started again.

"Our people are going to hate me."

The statement shocked Elli. She wasn't sure whether it was what he said or the fact that he stated it so bluntly that shocked her more. He turned back to face her, a look of seriousness upon every inch of his face.

"I'm going to be branded a traitor. Probably worse. Every quarian will say that I not only turned my back on our people, but betrayed them."

He paused to let it sink in, then turned back to the window again. The words that followed seemed soaked in venom.

"And they would have every right to."

Once again, only the sounds of engines dominated the room for a while. Elli couldn't fathom thoughts, let alone words. When Yalo spoke again it came out in a very casual tone, despite his revelation.

"How many years have we been out here, drifting through the stars on piles of rusting metal, held together by nothing more than trash and luck? We gave the Geth life, and they proceeded to take ours. We've become the joke race of the universe, seen as nothing more than the galaxy's roving mess of vagrant scavengers. If we were nothing we'd be worth more than we are now. But we're not nothing. We're an annoyance. We're a plague."

He turned back to Elli, and she swore she saw half a smirk on his face.

"Do you know _why_ we're who we are? Do you know why we've been doing nothing but drifting the stars aimlessly in this same pathetic cycle for centuries now?"

Elli's answer was nothing more than a whisper, and came as a question itself. She wasn't sure if he was being rhetorical or not, or whether the answer was the one he was looking for if he wasn't.

"The Geth?"

"Wrong," he said matter-of-factly. "The problem is _not_ The Geth. The problem is _us_. _We're_ the reason we're stuck like this." A pause. "And before you say it, no... the reason is not because we _created_ the geth. That's only the reason we_ became_ exiled and lost. That's not the reason we're _still_ exiled and lost."

He turned back to the window, eyes meeting the bright specks once more.

"How many quarians have gone on their pilgrimage and returned over the years? Gone and returned, with a small gift to _earn_ their way into adulthood. Gone, searched and returned with nothing." A pause. "Nothing at all. Just trinkets. Pointless, useless trinkets. Little things that do nothing and serve no purpose and help us in no way at all."

He turned back to Elli, now fully smiling.

"I'm not making the same mistake, Elli. I'm not bringing back nothing. I'm going to make a difference. I'm going to change the quarians forever. We won't be a joke any more."

He turned back to the window, looking at his own visage in the glass rather than what lay beyond. Seeing his own smile seemed to give him confidence and vigour.

"History is going to repeat itself, Elli. And this time for the better."

And as fast as it had come, the smile disappeared. An emotionless grimace adorned his face as he faced Elli once more.

"And they're going to hate me for it. All of them. They're going to _detest_ me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Mass Effect****  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 2**

The _Lerta_ had been a lucky find for the quarian fleet just over two decades ago. Originally thought to have been a casualty of the First Contact War between the turians and the humans, the true origin of the mid-sized turian battleship remained unknown to them since it was discovered drifting alone in space. Its engines, weapons and most of its systems had been damaged by artillery from something, but despite this it had been devoid of any bodies. Most quarians had theorized that perhaps turians had come by it later to recover the bodies for burial, simply leaving it drifting given its state. Others didn't believe it, mostly due to the fact that the hull was mostly intact and it had no real structural damage, suggesting that whoever attacked it intended merely to disable it rather than destroy it. There was also the fact that its systems were completely devoid of any logs or other information regarding its purpose. Whatever the truth was, it was an excellent catch for the fleet, described by the quarian who first saw it as, "a shining bird of hope all alone in the void."

Barely any of the mechanical aspects of the ship were original now though. The engines had been so damaged by whatever had hit them that they were at least three quarters spare parts by the time they were functional again, and the weapons had to be completely removed and replaced. It had been a tough job, with most repairs done while the fleet was still on the move between systems, and several major problems along the way, some of which saw the unfortunate death of an engineer or technician. When all was complete though, she had proven to be one of the more reliable ships in the fleet. If one were to observe the fleet, they would probably just think it was a turian ship flying amongst them rather than a salvaged member of the group.

There, on the bridge of the _Lerta_, stood its captain: Jinn'Pala vas Lerta. Jinn's environmental suit was a plain grey mostly, with black around the neck, elbows and knees, and he stood with a tall, confident stance. It had been mostly quiet aboard the _Lerta_ lately, being that they were between systems at this time, and although that could make things a little tedious for him commanding the bridge while his crew performed autonomous duties around him, usually if it wasn't quiet it wasn't something good. Being a small military vessel, his ship was usually called on to scout out possible concerns and pick off the odd raider either brave or stupid enough to try and pick off a stray ship. Sometimes they'd wait behind nearby asteroids and pounce upon a smaller, unarmed ship, like a lion picking off a young or injured antelope. It wasn't common, as most raiders saw the folly in it, and even those that didn't would rarely succeed. Still, it happened, and if the _Lerta_ was nearby, it would have to deal with it. It was by no means an important or major ship beyond that, and the average quarian on any vessel more than half a dozen ships in either direction from it would likely not even know of its existence beyond it just being another one of the fleet.

At the moment though, Jinn seemed rather impatient. While his crew manned their stations casually, he would pace up and down the narrow bridge, arms clasped behind his back. After he'd done this a few times he'd usually stop, standing tall and protruding his chest in his normal confident stance again, only to let out a sigh that wouldn't even produce a sound through his mask, but would at least cause it to light up for a couple of seconds. After a few more repeats of this sequence, a door from the rear of the section opened, from which stepped a male quarian in a suit of half grey and half a deep purple. None of the bridge crew acknowledged this, but Jinn turned on one foot as soon as he had heard the door, then approached the newcomer.

"I was wondering when you were going to come and see me, Yalo," he said in a voice deeper than that of most quarians.

"I had some things to take care of before I left," Yalo stated rather emotionlessly. "I've got a lot ahead of me, and a lot of loose ends. All must be tied up."

"Of course," Jinn responded in a voice of warmth that allowed Yalo to hear the smile, even if he couldn't see it. "You've got..."

Jinn trailed off as he spoke, cocking his head to one side a little bit. He had noticed something odd about Yalo's helmet.

"You've got a long journey through places that are dangerous and foreign," he continued, "but I'm sure you'll make it back alive and well."

"Alive, maybe," Yalo said plainly. "I'm not so sure about well."

Jinn placed a hand on Yalo's shoulder, shaking his head a little. He was used to his son being a little pessimistic sometimes, so took it in stride. After a few seconds of silence, he raised his head in his son's direction as if to point with it.

"Your helmet looks different. I can't see anything beyond the visor."

Yalo smiled from beneath. Usually when looking at a quarian in their encounter suit you couldn't see much of their face at all, but could at least make out vague details of their eyes and a nose if close enough. In Yalo's case, it was just a void.

"I've had the visor double-glazed, so to speak," he said. "A precaution in case something were to crack it."

"You're not planning on getting into trouble I hope?"

"The greatest gift one can give is not one of wealth, but one of personal volition," Yalo said simply. "I will do what I must to accomplish my task ahead, whether it put me in danger or not."

"Getting into trouble is one thing. Going out of your way to find it is another."

"Trouble is going to be inevitable from this point on. At least if I find it myself, it can't sneak up and surprise me. I can handle myself out there. I've trained for this."

"Just be careful. The universe out there beyond the fleet is unpredictable and treacherous. Don't underestimate it with overconfidence."

"I won't. But I'm not going to let the universe _know_ that."

The two hugged, Jinn saying, "good luck" as they did. When the embrace was done, Jinn added, "and don't forget to see your mother before you leave. She has something for you."

"Very well, Captain," Yalo said with a nod and the quarian equivalent of a salute, and then he turned and left.

"Make me proud," he heard Jinn say just before the doors closed. He paused there for a moment beyond the doors, knowing they'd probably be the last words he'd hear his father say. Only two words came to mind.

"I won't."

* * *

Yalo wasn't sure why his father had to remind him to see his mother before he left, seeing as she worked in the very docking bay he'd be leaving from. Probably sentimentality more than anything, though it may have been because she had something for him, and his father may have been giving him a subtle reminder just exactly how forgetful she could be sometimes. But when Yalo found out exactly what the gift was, he was fairly sure it was something his mother wouldn't have forgotten. To forget something like that would be to forget somebody who had been very precious to Yalo, his father and his mother.

"I cannot take this," Yalo said, holding out one hand. "It is too much. You and father should keep it."

"She would _want_ you to have it," his mother insisted. "She would want it to be used by somebody she cared about. Your father and I have no use of it if you do not take it. If not for you, it would have already gone to the trading deck."

Yalo resigned to the logic in his mother's words, taking the omnitool from her and attaching it to his forearm. Activating it, he noted it had a vast array of useful tools and mods most omnitools common to the flotilla did not. Then again, his sister had visited many worlds on her pilgrimage. She had told them stories of her visits to other worlds. And he was sure she had many more to tell, only for the book to be closed too soon. And the most tragic thing wasn't so much that it was closed, but how.

Everybody who knew her had known her most of her life as Linna'Pala nar Lerta. Linna had been such a giving person throughout her life, always going out of her way to help others around her, even at the cost of her own time, resources or welfare. She had been particularly instrumental in raising Yalo in the years before she set off on her pilgrimage, mainly due to the fact that both their parents had other duties that took up a lot of their time, but also because she was very supportive and wanted to help him learn, particularly about the world outside the fleet. Because of this, Yalo had grown very close to Linna, and the two shared a bond he never really experienced with anybody else. They never quarrelled, at least not beyond her scolding him for doing something he shouldn't, and was always there to answer his thousands upon thousands of questions. When the time came for her to journey on her pilgrimage, Yalo felt a great loss even before she had gone. She had assured him he would see her again and that it was a special moment that every quarian had to go through in life.

"It is the ultimate test," she had said to him, standing in the very same docking bay he was in now. "It is the defining moment of a quarian's life. The journey that sees them no longer as an individual speck of dust amongst billions, but instead a defining part of those billions. There is no greater honour than the day you become a more valuable resource to your people than all the ships in the fleet combined." Those were her parting words to him before she disappeared into her shuttle and vanished into the black.

Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. Yalo spent the time studying all he could to try and keep his mind off the fact she wasn't around, only to find himself actually missing her more and becoming increasingly concerned as he read about the possible dangers she could be facing. At the same time though, he knew his pilgrimage would eventually come too, and he knew the best way to avoid these dangers was to learn about them. And if he couldn't avoid them, at least he should be prepared to deal with them. It wasn't long before he stopped worrying so much about her and instead focussed more on making sure his own journey would be as prosperous as possible, and time didn't seem to pass as slowly. And then, before he'd realised how long she'd gone, she had returned.

The next time he met her, she had already presented her gift, and was now known as Linna'Pala vas Rodus. She had apparently met with a lot of resistance and prejudice in her long journey, and even a little violence here and there. Her gift, in the end, had been acquired through good luck, hard work and kindness. A salarian scientist had apparently been very impressed with her technical and mechanical skills and as a result she'd helped him on a major project that she wasn't allowed to talk about. The end result were some blueprints for a more efficient air filtration system that didn't even need top-of-the-line parts to be created or implemented, which was a fine gift for not only the captain of the _Rodus_, but for the entire fleet.

"You should always bring back something that will help our people," she had told Yalo the night before she had set out. "Never go for the quick or easy gift. The gift should be earnt and truly be something of value. Something special that not just any quarian could get, because you used _your_ talents and gifts to attain it. That way it truly is a gift both from and of you."

Yalo was pleased that she had returned safely, but knew that now she was assigned to the another ship that he wouldn't see much of her. He wasn't aware of how true that would be.

She had been back only three days, assigned as an engineer when it happened. The _Rodus_ had been known to be one of the less mechanically sound vessels of the flotilla, and Yalo had recalled their father commenting rather dryly that he thought she should have gone to a better vessel considering the quality of her gift. She had laughed that off though, telling him that she felt she was of more use on a ship that needed the help rather than one that could be easily maintained. She had apparently made a suggestion to her captain that she start implementing the new air filtration system in the _Rodus_ as soon as possible, but he had apparently declined. Cruel irony struck on that third day, as Linna was working on the ship's current air filtration systems.

Nobody was sure exactly what happened, but evidence suggested that during maintenance on the systems, sudden high pressure caused some critical mechanical faults, and when one of Linna's team tried to release some of it they accidentally caused an explosion that killed all three of the quarians working there. Worse still, while the other two had been killed instantly due to their proximity to the explosion, Linna's death had apparently been far longer.

Shrapnel from the explosion had been propelled straight at her, piercing her environmental suit in several places, including her mask and visor. Those that struck her body wounded her badly, but while the ones that hit her helmet didn't injure her directly, they did serve to completely negate its purpose. It didn't take her long to realise that the pressurised air spewing forth from the broken machinery wasn't clean, not from her expertise, but from its taste. She crawled across the ground towards the half-crippled system, then, using it to pull herself up, managed to reach a valve handwheel. After several awkward turns, the sounds of hissing and screeching were silenced. Dropping to the ground, Linna worked her way along the floor towards the bulkhead door, not only closing it, but also locking it from the inside. Finally, pulling a piece of eight inch shrapnel from her chest, she wrote backwards on the door's window _UNCLEAN_ and then sank to the floor, leaning ungainly against the nearest wall, never to stand again.

Yalo was shocked upon hearing the news. She had survived her pilgrimage, only to be cut down before her time by the inadequacies of her own ship back with the fleet. It gave Yalo a whole new perspective on both loss and mortality. He had always known he was lucky to even exist, given that few quarian families ever had more than one child. He was fortunate enough to have been the result of a time when births had been low recently, so the restriction had been briefly removed. It wasn't until after Linna's death that Yalo had considered that perhaps there was more to it than that. Perhaps his existence wasn't just luck. Perhaps there was a purpose to it. It was then he decided that he needed to focus even more on his pilgrimage and helping his people, just like his sister had wanted to, but no longer could.

If there had been one moment besides her death that had stuck with him more than anything though, it had been a moment they shared the night before she had left on her great journey. She had just been telling him how important the pilgrimage was culturally, and then for no apparent reason turned away to look out a nearby window and he could hear her crying. He had never seen or heard her cry before, she had always been so upbeat and positive, even when things were dire. She always seemed to see the light shining in the dark, and then to see her just cry like that was rather shocking. After a while she gathered herself, then turned back to him.

"Our people are dying, Yalo," she said, and he could hear the pain in her voice. "They're dying a slow and painful death. I know the Admiralty Board and the Conclave and all the others tell us that everything is okay, but... I can tell. I can see it all around us. I hear it as whispers between others. Not directly, but... if you read between the lines, and see what they're sometimes _not_ saying, it becomes clear. We're too few on unstable ground. Or, we would be if we were on ground at all. We're corpses floating in the ebony ocean of space. We just don't know that we're dead yet."

She was silent for a while, then leant forward to place a hand on Yalo's shoulder.

"Unless we _do_ something, Yalo," she stated, her voice gaining some strength once more. "It's up to people like you and me to change our people's future. We need to stop pretending that we'll all be fine drifting through the stars on nothing but our will to survive. We were a strong people, but we've become weak. It's up to us to find that strength again. If you see a way to help our people, and I mean _really_ help them, you should do it."

* * *

With a tear in his eye and thoughts of his departed sister, Yalo hugged his mother. He could see his shuttle, the _Spero_, over her shoulder now. It was a good ship from what he'd seen, and it would have to be, because it would have a long and hard journey ahead of it. The only doubt he had in his mind was with regards to Linna. He didn't care if the Admiralty Board or the Conclave didn't understand what he was going to do. He didn't care if the entire flotilla didn't understand. He didn't even care if his parents didn't understand. But Linna, if she were alive, would _she_ understand? Would she see what he was going to do and see why if she were still amongst them? And, perhaps more importantly, would she forgive him at the end of it all?

_I hope that you would_, he thought to himself in the final moments of his mother's embrace, _because if you didn't understand, I don't think any other quarian would_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Mass Effect****  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 3**

Credits. Credits were the first step.

Quarians had no real need for currency on the flotilla of course, since personal possessions were meaningless beyond how useful they were. Credits still came and went despite this, and in both cases it was usually related to a quarian's pilgrimage. It was a simple cycle whereby credits would often be amongst the gifts given to a leaving quarian to help them survive in a world that revolved around them, and when a quarian returned, they would usually have credits on them that no longer had any place in the Migrant Fleet; often more than they left with if they had a successful pilgrimage. These would then be bartered on one of the trading decks to a parent or close friend of another quarian due to venture out, and thus the cycle would continue. Yalo was no exception, receiving a good amount of the currency from his father and mother amongst his gifts. But he was going to need more credits if his intentions were to be realised. A lot more. Things couldn't be rushed though, and he knew he needed to get a feel for the universe outside the fleet first.

His first stop was a brief one on the uninhabited world of Elysiala in asari space. It was a small, insignificant planet, and that suited Yalo just fine. He simply wanted to land there and experience exactly what it was like to live on such a large, open world free of walls and boundaries, without a living soul for who knew how far. There wasn't much to Elysiala beyond mountains, hills, plains and rock, but Yalo found the sheer size and scope of it all to be fascinating. It was all natural, no metal, plastic or synthetic materials anywhere. The first thing he had done when leaving his vessel was to kneel upon the ground and simply run his hand across it. His environmental suit separated him from actually touching it physically, but he swore he could almost actually feel the earth and sand running between his fingers. He marvelled as time had true meaning; observing the sun's disappearance beyond the horizon only for it to emerge again hours later on the opposite side. To watch it plunge everything into darkness, then bathe everything in saffron brightness once more, painting all around him in different hues between was a true experience for him. Despite the beauty and wonder of it all, he couldn't help but feel a little bitter at the same time though.

_It's all such a waste_, he thought to himself. _This is but one world out here not even being utilised by anybody. I have no doubt there are millions more like it_.

Yalo, of course, realised that not every world was habitable by the races out here. There would be little point in the asari or anybody else inhabiting a barren world whose temperature was too high, gravity was just as bad and with an atmosphere that would need environmental suits to even breathe. That didn't stop it feeling like a mistake to him though.

* * *

After leaving Elysiala, it didn't take Yalo long to discover that the quickest and easiest profession to gain credits in was that of a mercenary. Easy not so far as performing the job, but instead regarding how little effort was needed to actually attain it. Becoming a merc was a simple choice, and from there basically meant taking jobs as you came across them. You usually wouldn't have a fixed boss, could choose what and what you didn't want to take on, and would often get paid a modest amount to simply travel somewhere and talk to somebody or give them something. The only thing that really deterred him with the profession was a single rule.

_The gift must not be gained by harming another_, Yalo's mind pondered. _Quarian or not_.

The whole thing was a bit of a grey area though. There was a difference, after all, between intentionally harming another out of choice and, for example, killing somebody in self-defence. If you were shot at or attacked then it was only logical to defend yourself, and if that meant harming or even killing another, then so be it. But it couldn't be a premeditated action. That basically meant assassination, kidnapping or any other missions that were specifically of a violent nature were out of the question for Yalo. In fact, if one were to look at the average mission a merc would undertake, Yalo wouldn't have many options left. Thankfully things were never so black and white, and while Yalo was perfectly aware of the nature of choices and consequences, he was also aware of the unforseen with regards to them. He knew that while one could argue that by negotiating a weapons shipment or delivering a mysterious package for parties known for having little regard for ethics could be considered as taking part in something that would likely lead to the harm of another, one can never know the outcome of any action. After all, one could easily perform a seemingly innocent action with no knowledge of the negative impact it may have later.

He knew such thinking was kind of a cop out, and really just an excuse to prevent all the options being taken from him. But in a universe where almost every business is seen to be run by corrupt criminals anyway, one could hardly be too judgemental. One could even wonder who is worse: the criminal who openly admits it, or the one that hides behind doctored paperwork, bribes and mysteriously anonymous investors and clients. He couldn't help but think of the irony that his people were often thought of as thieves and criminals by these races. Yalo knew his options were few, but he figured that as long as he avoided the worst of it he would be okay. But then, when it came down to the end of it all, would it really matter? Thinking about his future, he couldn't help but be reminded of a krogan saying he'd read about that roughly translated to, "the path to success is a trail of blood that only gets longer the further you travel."

Despite his concerns, he was surprised to discover the amount of mostly passive missions he was offered. Bars, clubs and other highly social locations were the best place to find jobs, and he even managed to impress a volus barkeep enough to give him two additional delivery jobs after a successful negotiation with a turian mercenary involving some questionable weapon mods. For just over a Galactic Standard month, Yalo managed to earn a more than decent amount of credits for various species on various worlds just doing deliveries, negotiations and guard duties, with only one of them going sour when some salarian mercenaries decided they'd rather just take the weapons than pay for them. Along with the two turians and one human merc supporting him, Yalo helped things go in their favour in that instance though.

A decent amount of credits wasn't enough, Yalo knowing full well that he had to get a lot more and the faster the better. So when a bulletin came through of the kidnapping of an esteemed salarian scientist by a group of krogan, the quarian knew this was a chance at getting exactly that. Best of all, it was pretty much a humanitarian mission and thus far more morally sound than most of the other jobs he had taken. A good reward was on offer, with certain wealthy parties of the council races adding to the pool to bring it to half a million credits, and that was just for _locating_ the scientist, not necessarily bringing him back. With the reward public though, Yalo would need to use all his cunning to beat others to the punch, especially given they were more used to this galaxy than he was. Looking at the security footage of the kidnapping that bad been made public, he had a pretty good idea what lead to follow first.

"Terrible the way things are going lately," the volus barkeep standing across from Yalo sighed. "Hopefully the reward will offer enough incentive to get the doctor back, safe and sound."

Yalo had been sitting at the bar, despite not being able to drink anything on offer. He was simply cleaning and maintaining his weapon for the moment; a Stinger pistol made by Devlon Industries. Normally individuals weren't permitted to have weapons in the establishment, but Yalo had made the place a regular port of call over the last month, so the rotund owner, Talan Jol, had come to trust him. The quarian had made it almost a home away from home, preferring to stay the night there whenever he arrived on Tieronus. Not only was the place a good source of information from all over the galaxy, but the constant noise of bustling customers made him feel more at home than sitting alone in a small shuttle did. He could sleep easier in the room he regularly rented from Talan than on his ship; the dulled sounds of patrons though the floor beneath him almost mimicking those surrounding his room aboard the _Lerta_.

"I need to find out more," Yalo stated, closing his weapon and clipping it to his thigh. "There has to be a place I can go to get more information."

"Aside from the place he was taken from, The Citadel itself would likely have information about it," Talan said, hissing every so often as he inhaled some ammonia. "Unfortunate that it's off-limits to simple travellers for the moment."

Yalo sighed. An unfortunate side effect of the rumoured geth attack upon the galaxy's heart. Yalo had no idea that the geth had ventured beyond the Veil when he had left the fleet. He had heard rumours of them present in the Attican Traverse from various reports, but much was supposition and he wasn't sure what was rumour and what was fact. The presence of the geth was something that intrigued Yalo to no end, and he'd be lying if he didn't admit some curiosity in wanting to discover why they were possibly back in Citadel Space after such a long time. But before he could do much to act, there was news that The Citadel had been attacked and that the geth responsible had all been destroyed, though details of exactly what happened and how were vague and mostly supposition, at least to the public. Whatever the story was, and despite Yalo's curiosity, the geth weren't part of his plans. If their apparent presence and attack meant anything it was that he had to work faster than he initially thought. Perhaps they were a sign that he was not only on borrowed time, but that the debt collectors were already getting impatient.

"I wish I'd done more research on the krogan," Yalo muttered, his fingers drumming upon the bar top. "I focussed too much on the asari, turians, humans and salarians. Can you replay the video for me, Talan?"

The volus nodded, turning around to wave his stubby fingers across the holographic interface. Yalo watched, then snapped the word "hold" just as the assailants appeared on the screen. He pointed at them.

"Am I right in saying that it's _unusual_ for so many krogan to be working together like that?"

Talan wheezed in another breath, turning his head to one side as he regarded the scene before him. Making a thoughtful noise, he then turned back to Yalo.

"I suppose, Fleet-clan," the volus answered. "Krogan aren't common as a general rule, and generally prefer to work alone in my experience." A pause. "But then, what krogan there are _do_ tend to be mercs, so the chances of them working together in circumstances such as that _are_ higher than normal." Another pause. "It's hard to say."

"I haven't seen many krogan since I left the fleet," Yalo said, one finger tapping his mask at the cheek. "Certainly not three working together. Sometimes with a turian, or salarian, or human, or batarian. Even an asari in a couple of cases. But not _three_ together like that."

After a few seconds of silent thought, Yalo stood up and activated his omni-tool, his fingers dancing upon it to emit various bleeps and boops.

"Thanks for the room, I've transferred the credits for the last two nights. I might be back in a few days."

"You are most welcome, Fleet-clan," Talan nodded. "Might I enquire as to your destination?"

"To the home of those who keep the peace in this galaxy," Yalo answered before leaving the volus' sight.

* * *

Yalo wasn't sure if Palaven held the answers to his questions, but it seemed the most likely place to look first. The turians were basically the law of the galaxy to the salarian's brains and the asari's diplomacy, so if anywhere beyond The Citadel was to have records of criminal activities that affected all the council races, it was going to be the turian homeworld. If not, he at least might be able to get something to eat there besides the rather bland paste he'd been subjected to over the past month. Yalo liked to at least make sure a journey wasn't going to be a waste of time and effort, even if it meant coming up with a rather weak excuse to justify it.

"Unidentified ship," a raspy voice rang through his communications before even entering the planet's atmosphere, "This is Palaven Security Control. Please state your craft's registration and designation, as well as the purpose of your visit."

It suddenly occurred to him that he was piloting a modified turian shuttle right into the turian homeworld. He cursed behind his visor, not so much at the situation as his own lack of forethought given the circumstances.

"I am Yalo'Pala nar Lerta of the quarian vessel _Spero_. It is without registration."

Yalo paused, just in case that was going to be a problem. If it was, the turian voice at the other end wasn't letting him know.

"I request permission to land for the purposes of investigation regarding the recent geth activities in council space. I am hoping any information regarding the geth may serve as a gift for my people."

There was a moment of silence, aside from what Yalo thought was some whispers or far off talking. He couldn't make out whatever was being said though.

"You are aware that a lot of the information you may seek is classified and confidential?" the turian voice eventually said.

"Yes."

Another short, quiet period followed, and then the instructions of, "coordinates are being relayed to your vessel now. Any deviation from these will be regarded as a hostile action and will be responded to by turian security forces as such. Understood?"

"Acknowledged," Yalo said, inputting the relayed information directly to his autopilot.

The sight of Palaven was quite breathtaking once Yalo's shuttle had penetrated the thick layers of white haze. A large, coastal city of obvious turian architecture spread out beneath him; an ocean on one side and what looked like vegetation on the other. As his craft descended, Yalo could make out that the vegetation was in fact a collection of rather hardy examples of flora that appeared to be covered with a natural metallic skin. This was no doubt due to the high levels of radiation and heat possessed by the turian homeworld, which was also responsible for the rugged nature of the turians themselves. He didn't get to study them closely for much longer as his shuttle dived into a raised docking platform and touched down. It was no surprise to Yalo that upon exiting he was greeted by two armed guards. With them was a third, unarmed turian, likely the one in charge judging from his clothing and the fact he stood between and a few steps ahead of the others.

"Welcome to Palaven, quarian," the dominant turian stated. "The first thing I'm going to have to ask you to do is turn in any weapons, omni-tools or other items indicated on this list to security before entering."

Yalo was handed a datapad, which he read over carefully, scrolling with his thumb whenever he needed to. The list was surprisingly long, but aside from his pistol, omni-tool and some weapon mods, Yalo had nothing on him that was listed. He unclipped his pistol, retrieved his mods and handed them to the turian officer. He kept his omni-tool where it was however.

"I'll require this to download the appropriate data, if you don't mind," he told the officer. The turian's mandibles visibly jerked down at this comment.

"I'm afraid we can't let anybody without official clearance near any electronic security equipment or terminals with an omni-tool, especially a quarian. No offence, but your race are known for their talents with machines and electronic devices. If you have any OSD's you're free to use those to download any relevant data. This is all, of course, assuming you pass all our checks and are allowed access to any information at all. Even then, a security officer will be present at all times."

Yalo relented, removing the omni-tool from his forearm and handing it over. The turian's gaze moved beyond Yalo to the shuttle behind him. "I notice your _unregistered_ ship is a turian shuttle. I would be lying if I say that didn't intrigue me somewhat."

"Usually when we purchase a ship from somebody for the fleet, the registration has been removed or has expired," Yalo answered.

"That isn't the part that interests me," the turian said, snapping just a little to indicate that he realised Yalo knew that. "It's not a _common_ turian shuttle, quarian. These models were specifically designed for turian military vessels. Vessels that the turian government would never _sell_ to anybody."

"Really?" Yalo said, followed by a small chuckle. "I suppose that explains what it was doing inside the turian battleship the fleet has then."

The turian's eyes widened, then narrowed again shortly after. Once again, his mandibles flicked downward. "And how, exactly, did the quarians _get_ a turian battleship?"

"I believe it was found drifting in space," Yalo stated, shrugging. "Though I can't be sure. I wasn't there when they acquired it."

"I thought you said it had been sold to you by somebody?"

"I never made such a claim. I merely stated that when we _do_ purchase ships, the registration is usually not part of them. In the event that we find ships that _are_ registered, we remove them ourselves. It's kind of a symbolic thing. Once the registration is removed, the ship is officially part of the fleet and no longer belongs to outsiders."

A growl emitted from deep in the turian's throat, his head sagging slightly as if his neck had briefly lost the ability to hold it up. He then looked up at Yalo sideways with one eye.

"You're not exactly doing much to increase the chances of being allowed to enter this place, let alone access security data related to the geth."

"I don't see why not," Yalo said. "I've cooperated completely so far and answered all your questions."

"Then answer this one, quarian," the turian said. "What is the _name_ of the ship that your shuttle complements?"

"Why do you want to know? Do the turians plan on taking it back?"

"There would be little point. Aside from the fact that your people have no doubt modified it greatly, from your shuttle's design I can tell that it would be an older ship, and thus _obsolete_. We would have no need of it now, and any damage that could be done with the ship in your possession no doubt already would have been by now. There are, however, a few missing ships from around the time of the Relay Three Fourteen Incident, and the turian government _would_ be interested in discovering their whereabouts."

"Then how about we strike a deal then?" Yalo put forth. "Give me access to the files I require and I'll give you the name of the ship."

"I'll still have to perform some checks and will need more questions answered from you before I can permit you passage. If you check out okay, I think that such a deal will be acceptable."

"Agreed," Yalo smiled from beneath his mask. Clearly this turian had no idea about quarian naming conventions, or at least hadn't thought to put two and two together.

* * *

The questions were fairly straightforward and caused Yalo no further issues with security. Though it took a while for the turians to get back to him with regards to their "checks" as they put it, Yalo was told he was free to access the information via a terminal in the security station itself. The guard who escorted him there informed him that it had a VI interface if he so wished to use it, but also provided simple text-based reports and databases. Before Yalo was actually allowed to use the terminal, the turian with him accessed it with a voice-activated security password and set the level of security and access restrictions on the terminal. From what he said, Yalo had been given a mid-level clearance; one probably not available to civilians, but for most low-level security officers and above he guessed. This access was however limited to only information pertaining to the geth and any recent activities in Citadel Space that referenced their recent visit directly. This was hardly surprising, and Yalo was a patient man. He knew that both patience and opportunity were going to see him through his mission, and this was just going to be another case of that. As he slipped in an OSD, he just hoped there was enough information on the geth to allow for his patience. _Most quarians would simply be happy with this information as a gift_, he thought to himself as he browsed the information, thinking of both those on their pilgrimages and to any recipients of the information.

As Yalo had feared, the information wasn't in great supply, and he realised that going though it all would only take a few hours at the most, and simply downloading it all if he so chose wouldn't take long either. From what he could gather this was a result from both a lack of information and a lack of sufficient security clearance given to him. Some documents had information there, except that it was hidden from him. After just over an hour of this, Yalo's eyes moved to the guard standing a good dozen or more feet away from him near the doorway. The dark-skinned turian wasn't paying particular attention to Yalo beyond making sure he didn't try to leave the room without escort or tried anything such as damaging or hacking the equipment. The room itself was a small, angular one with the terminal in the centre and plain white walls all around forming an octagonal shape.

"Are you sure you can't give me a _slightly_ higher security clearance?" Yalo asked the guard. "With my information limited to the geth what harm can I do?"

"Sorry, but that's what I was told to give you. You're lucky to get that, given some of the things that happened. All the council species' leaders and politicians would rather not reveal certain details from what I've heard."

"Why?"

"I don't know," the turian shrugged. "Just rumours probably. Something about the attack on The Citadel being the fault of the council somehow. That they didn't act when they should have or something. A lot of people think they should have taken more action against the geth sooner. But, hey, that's politics. A politician could have a pissed-off krogan charging towards him and instead of running away or shooting back he'll think about all the ways he can somehow get ahead of his rivals or look good from the situation. Of course, there's the fact that that krogan will be on him within ten seconds, but will he take _that_ into consideration?"

Yalo returned to his searching, which at this point was still for the sake of appearances. That was at least until he came across something amongst the information that may just link into his real investigation. Of course, as soon as he tried to deviate off the narrow path afforded to him via an imbedded link, access was denied.

"Is it possible that I could at least have an extension on the material I am allowed to access?" he asked the guard. "There's some information I can't access that doesn't relate _directly_ to the geth, but does relate in a circuitous manner."

Yalo pointed at the screen and stared at the turian, who simply groaned and approached with reluctant plodding. Leaning forward to see what Yalo was talking about he made a reluctant noise in the depths of his throat, then what started as a slight wavering of his head became a definite shake of it.

"Sorry, can't help you."

Yalo sighed at this, shaking his head also. "I was hoping you weren't going to say that."

The turian felt a small prick in the side of his left hand, pulling it away suddenly as he did. He didn't have time to notice the small syringe-like vial in Yalo's right hand, only managing to utter, "what the..." as he looked briefly at his own hand and then slumped to the ground awkwardly, his eyes rolling back into his head. Yalo looked down at him and shook his head again.

_Funny how something one species would eat on a daily basis can cause another to collapse into a jellied lump_, he thought, twisting the end of the vial to retract the small needle back inside. _Then again, it would do pretty much the same to me too_.

The turian would be fine, assuming the human who had sold it to him was telling the truth that is. Standing up, Yalo reached around into one of the pouches hanging around his waist at the back and took out his omni-tool. His _real_ omni-tool. He had known full well that the turians would probably take it off him, so had counted on them not expecting him to have a second one, though keeping it in a shielded pouch helped too. Activating it, he attempted to hack into the terminal. Turian security was tight, and it was going to take him some time to get into the system, especially if he was to avoid detection. Thanks to his skill, and he had to admit even more so Linna's well-equipped omni-tool, he managed to get access to the files he had wanted to. As he had suspected, the incident with salarian doctor was not an isolated incident. More scientists had been kidnapped, most of them salarian, and also by krogan. With a little more digging, Yalo found what he believed was his next lead, so slipped in his OSD to download the required data while he reversed the security clearance back to what he had been given by the turians.

Hiding his omni-tool once more, he produced a second vial from another pouch, exposed a needle from it with a twist, and stuck the tip into the side of the unconscious guard's neck. The turian jerked a bit, as if having a seizure, then stiffened up a bit. His glazed, featureless eyes rolled back down to reveal his pupils and irises, and his mouth emitted a spluttering sound. The spluttering became coughing, and he sat upright and gained sudden control of his limbs. Coughing even deeper, he rolled over, now down on all fours like a varren. After just over ten seconds of increasingly violent retching, hacking and heaving, putrid yellow liquid splattered upon the floor from his jaws in a jerking surge, followed by another two helpings. The turian then just knelt there, his whole body pulsing as he breathed heavily. Yalo tapped him on the back, squatting beside him.

"Are you all right, officer?" he said, trying as best to keep his voice from revealing the smile he bore.

"I... I think so," the turian said, then spat out some remnants of vomit. "What... what happened?"

Yalo's smile grew. The human had also been right about the mild memory loss, not dissimilar to that of extreme intoxication in many species.

"I don't know. You simply... _collapsed_ while I was asking you about these files. Perhaps you ate something today that didn't agree with you? In either case, perhaps you should see a medical professional."

"That's probably what I get for eating at a place that also serves asari and human food," the guard grumbled. "Urgh... look at this mess! I'm afraid you'll have to leave so we can get this place cleaned up. I'm sure we can find you another security officer and another terminal though."

"No need," Yalo said, ejecting his OSD from the station. "I have enough information I think. More would have been nice, but it should suffice. Thank you, officer. I can be on my way, and you can go and see a doctor about, well... you know."

"Sure. Good luck with that," the guard said, his breathing steady once again. "I'll get somebody to take you back to your shuttle." There was a pause. "Oh, yeah... before that, we'd like to know the name of your ship. You know, the turian one your people have."

"Your chief of security already has it," Yalo smiled. "Just look at the first field on that nice little form I had to fill in. It's the last word."


	4. Chapter 4

**Mass Effect****  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 4**

Skittering around a corner and into an alleyway, Kriost Palmera was one salarian who'd definitely had better days. Despite maintaining a fast pace as he tore through the narrow passage, he favoured one leg, dropping down a little whenever his right foot made contact with the ground. His left arm appeared limp, though there were no signs of injury to it beyond that and he kept his right arm pumping as he ran rather than using it to support the other. There was a small, but deep looking, gash above his left eye, and while the eye itself appeared undamaged, he kept winking it furiously; most likely to disperse the seeping blood that trickled from above. His breathing was fast and loud, and when he didn't breathe he would swallow deeply. He took a couple of glances behind him, then leapt over a pair of crates at the end of the alley.

"Must..." A deep breath. "Must find... a ship." A swallow. "Mustgetoutofhere! Have... to leave. Notsafe, not... safe." Another deep breath. "Musttellthem! Must... expose!" Another swallow. "Need a ship. Need... to tell them! The Council... the Councilmustknow!"

Palmera was now dashing across a wide street, making his way for another alley directly ahead. The place seemed deserted, and without more than the sound of reddish brown dust being blown across the rough road along with assorted other less natural debris. That was until the loud thud of something hitting a stack of plastic containers and crates along with a deep, throaty growl. The salarian's panting and swallowing stopped with a gasp, and his head wasn't even halfway facing the source of the commotion before he felt a jolt of pain sear up his entire right side.

Elkoss Combine assault rifles weren't known for being the best option on the market, but when the intended target isn't far away and lacks biotic shields or any form of armour the Avenger was more than enough to do the job. The first three shots had sent fountains of dust into the air before the rest penetrated the salarian's clothes, skin and muscle tissue, starting at the right foot and trailing up the leg, torso and shoulder. Only the stumble caused by the early hits saved his head from being struck, and with both arms now out of commission, that was the first thing to hit the ground again. His world was nothing but pain and the taste of dust and his own blood for the next few moments. He coughed up a few mixtures of both, and only once he'd finished could he hear the dull, rhythmic thuds of heavy footsteps getting louder and louder. Something blocked the already dust-muted sun above him for a brief moment, and then he was roughly flipped onto his back. Flicking his eyes rapidly to expel the grit and grime, the large silhouette looming above him spoke in a voice of snarl and thunder.

"Did you _really_ think you were going to make it off here alive, Doctor Palmera?"

The salarian coughed again, blood running down his chin. He was of darker complexion than most salarians, with a deep brown, almost ebony head, save for a dark mottled blue upon his chin that appeared to trail down his throat beneath the collar. His assailant came into focus, his dark blue armour standing out in a world of mostly autumn colours. Unlike the salarian's smooth skin, his was rough and jagged, mostly blue like his armour, except for his pale yellow mouth and neck. He was built like a tank and suited battle and combat, unlike his unfortunate victim.

"No... I didn't, krogan," Palmera wheezed. "But... I had... to try." Somehow the salarian managed a smile. "It... only takes... one... of us... to escape."

"Not gonna happen," the krogan growled. "We're not in Citadel space. It's everyone for themselves out here." A pause. "Even if one of you does, no way anybody'll help you without pay."

"They would... if they knew... the truth!"

The krogan laughed loudly, clearly not caring if anybody in the vicinity could hear him.

"I thought you scientists were smart," he smiled after collecting himself. "The second you or any of the rest of you said anything you'd simply become a commodity. Whoever you ran to would just try to ransom you back to us for credits. You'd be better off _dead_ than letting some batarian get hold of you." A pause. "Do you honestly think anybody here is going to put morality before profit?"

The krogan then leant in close to the doctor, growling into his face. "But then, morality is a point of view, isn't it, Doctor? You of _all_ people should realise that. That's why you were brought here."

"Well... I'm not much..." a mouthful of blood swallowed down. "Not much use... to you now... am I?"

"Guess not," the krogan shrugged. "Pity too. The boss wanted you all taken alive, if possible. But _you_ had to be difficult." A pause. "So he made an exception for you. Said that if push came to shove, you could be taken out. There'd be no loss. You were more trouble than you were worth." A chuckle. "I can see why after that chase."

"Well... finish your job then, krogan!" Palmera spluttered. But the krogan just shook his head.

"Time will do that. I think the boss would like you to suffer a while. You caused him a lot of trouble, and frankly, I see where he's coming from. It was too important to be screwed up by a bunch of unhappy scientists."

The krogan paused, looking away and shaking his head, his blood red eyes narrowing.

"I'll be _damned_ if I let one of you screw us over. Not again."

He looked back down at Palmera, yellow teeth bared in a wide grin.

"So, you're going to lie there while I watch your life literally seep out of you. What can I say, the pay is good, and this will be like a bonus."

The salarian's eyes narrowed, and he seemed to muster all his strength to pull himself up using only his spine.

"As... the humans say," he wheezed. "Get... f-"

His words were abruptly ended for him, a sharp sound ringing out as the doctor's head spasmed and emptied most of its contents from a hole where his right eye used to be. The krogan leapt back, the smile vanishing from his wrinkled lips as fast as the salarian's eye had from its socket. Light glinted off something in the shadows of the alleyway Palmera had tried to escape to, but as soon as the krogan began to train his weapon toward it, something orange flashed in the shadows and the Avenger assault rifle was beeping loudly. The krogan knew it was out of commission for a good ten seconds minimum, which would be plenty of time for whoever was there to finish him off with even the weakest pistol. A pistol was in fact the first thing to appear from the darkness, though it hardly looked like a weak one, but nor did it fire. An arm began to emerge with it, and at first the krogan thought it must have been a turian, only to be surprised yet again as a species he definitely didn't expect to see was revealed.

"You shouldn't let others suffer, krogan," Yalo stated in a firm, yet unthreatening, voice. "To let somebody suffer needlessly is beyond cruel."

The krogan narrowed his eyes, a snort of contempt flaring his nostrils.

"Hrrmph! If you're going to take pity on anybody, it should be your own people. If ever there was a group that would be better off put out of their misery, it's them."

Yalo turned his head to one side.

"Oh really?" A pause. "How's that genophage going then, huh?"

The krogan gritted his teeth and snarled loudly, his gun aimed squarely at the centre of Yalo's visor now. His weapon was mere moments from being ready to fire again, and the quarian's pistol was no longer even aimed at him directly. Instead though, the corners of his mouth drew up into a smile and a deep chuckle game from the depths of his throat. He lowered his weapon, though kept it at the ready still.

"I like you, quarian. If I didn't know better, I'd say you had four stones under that fancy suit of yours. Not many people would insult a krogan from only five feet away, armed or not. Particularly ones who could die from the slightest puncture in their suits, injury or not."

"I was just looking for a salarian," Yalo said, looking down at the corpse nearby. "I certainly hope that wasn't the one."

"Dunno," shrugged the krogan. "In either case, if you wanted him alive, _you_ were the one that killed him."

"I merely alleviated his suffering," Yalo countered. "We both know that no amount of medi-gel would save him after your assault rifle nearly cut him in two."

A gravely chuckle sounded in the krogan's throat and he smiled. "True. But the real question is, was he the one you wanted. And why?"

"I don't think he is," Yalo said. "His skin is too dark. The one I'm after is lighter toned. Kind of tan coloured from what I saw."

"Funny. I'm after a salarian of a rather similar description myself," the krogan growled, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Are you going to tear him apart too?"

"Only if I have to. I'm supposed to take him alive, but if it comes down to him escaping or him dying, then I'm picking the latter."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not after Doctor Haedian for the same reasons that I am?" Yalo said with uncertainty, weapon training back on the krogan.

"You're not," the krogan responded, raising his weapon too. "But I have to wonder why a quarian would be away from the safety of his ships just to find a salarian doctor."

"I'm being paid to bring him back," Yalo said. "It's all about the credits, nothing more."

The krogan couldn't help but smile again. This quarian was speaking his language. "How did you know he'd be here?"

"I did some research. The first thing that struck me was that three krogan had entered his lab and taken him. That was most unusual."

"How's that?"

"Well, aside from the fact that it shouldn't take _three_ krogan to capture a single salarian, from what I've read and observed, krogan are a rare breed, and generally don't work together. For three to be in one place performing the same mission just didn't seem normal."

"I didn't know there was a book of rules for kidnapping salarians," the krogan jested. "Or for how my people act."

"No, but that's not all," Yalo said. "After looking into some recent events, it appears this wasn't an isolated incident. There have been other salarian scientists, as well as a few asari and turians, who have been forcibly taken under similar circumstances by groups of krogan recently. It's just that they weren't quite as high profile as Doctor Haedian is, and some simply appeared to disappear. All biologists or geneticists too."

"Doesn't explain you coming to Iolciom."

"A human vessel in the Hawking Eta Cluster saw a ship matching the description of the one believed to be responsible for Doctor Haedian's capture use the Mu Relay into the Terminus Systems. Hearing this, I traveled to Omega, where a few credits bought me information of a group of krogan having recently acquired a facility and various pieces of expensive scientific equipment here on Iolciom. So, here I came."

"Smart work," the krogan said, sounding impressed. "Sounds like I'll have some issues to settle on Omega then. Those deals were supposed to be confidential."

"Does the word even have any meaning in the Terminus Systems?" Yalo said, head turning to one side quizzically.

"All words have a meaning in the Terminus Systems. It's just that they all mean _credits_ above anything else."

"So where does that leave us now?"

"That depends on you. You _could_ just walk away away and forget your scientist. There'll be other jobs and other credits. No need to throw your life away on this one."

"I'm afraid the credits are too good in this case. And my need for them is great."

The krogan's response was preceded by a snort. "And why would a _quarian_ even need a lot of credits?"

"To save my people."

The krogan's eyes visibly widened, his gun drifting for a split second before he composed himself and steadied it again. His yellow teeth flashed in a grin.

"Then you and I may not be so different after all," he stated, and there was a pause before he mumbled to himself, "I wonder..."

As the krogan trailed off in thought, Yalo eyed him carefully, reading every piece of body language he could. He had had minimal dealings with krogan, and so far had taken the chance that by acting strong and confident the krogan may just respect him. So far it appeared to have worked, but Yalo knew that when push came to shove the tactic would only get him so far. And he was a lot less cool on the inside than he was projecting on the outside. _This extra thick visor has more uses than meets the eye_, Yalo thought to himself, thankful his expressions were shrouded from his adversary. On the other hand, right now Yalo could see the krogan's expressions shifting clearly, and it was a smile on his face when he finally decided to speak again.

"Perhaps we can work out a deal here," he said. "It'll be up to the boss in the long run, but I think somebody like you would be useful. Having a non-krogan aboard might just get rid of some suspicions, and you seem quite capable. I don't know what the reward amounts to when you get it, but I'm pretty damn sure that with a steady income you'd make that and more within a few months. Most of the work would just be wandering around with a gun."

"Just wandering around?" Yalo answered. "I find it hard to believe there'd be no need to shoot it."

"Hey, aside from bringing down that guy, I haven't had to fire a shot in weeks," the krogan answered, jerking his head towards the corpse nearby. "And if nobody else follows your lead, we should be able to keep it that way until this is over."

"Uh-huh," Yalo said, clearly not convinced. If he could find them, he was pretty damn sure somebody else would soon. "And why, exactly, should I help you?"

"Because we share a common goal. You're out here trying to save your people, and I'm out here trying to save mine."

"How?"

"I'll let the boss tell you about that when I take you to him. Assuming, that is, you're willing to take me up on the offer. But I can't go back until I've brought Doctor Haedian. And I'd like you to help me find him."

"What if I refuse?"

"You won't," the krogan chuckled. "You want him too. So either we work together to get him, or you'll be racing against _me_ to find him. And I bet I know this area a lot better than _you_ do."

"I'm surprised you wouldn't try and just finish me off here."

"Naw. Truth be told, until today, I hadn't had any good fun for _weeks_. Oh, I _could_ kill you now if I wanted, but the thrill of the chase would be a lot more fun." He chuckled. "Hell... I'd even give you a head start. But the greater truth is, fun or not, I'm here to do a job. And that job would be a lot quicker and easier if I had you with me."

"Your reasons seem noble enough," Yalo said, rubbing his mask at the chin. "But I'm not entirely sure about the methods."

"Don't worry. I'm planning on getting Haedian alive. And even so, sometimes you have to do some pretty bad things to achieve a good cause."

Yalo felt his insides squirm a little. This was something he believed all too well, and now he was pretty much sold. Even if his head told him it might not be a good idea, his heart overrode it.

"Okay then. No guarantees I'll help you out completely, but I'll at least help you find the doctor."

"Wise choice," the krogan nodded. "We'll set off again in a moment, if that's okay with you. But first, I have to make a call."

The krogan slung his weapon onto his back, then turned around and held his hand up to the side of his head. Taking a few steps away, he began talking. Yalo listened from afar.

"Boss, y'there?" A pause. "Intarr here. I got Palmera." Another pause. "No, dead. I'm going after Haedian next. I've even got some help." A pause, slightly longer this time. "Nope. A quarian. He was already looking for him. Seems somebody's started to care about these guys and there's a reward out there now. But I made the quarian a better offer." Another pause. "Yeah. And if he doesn't, well... y'know." A pause. "Right. We'll get right on it now."

Intarr turned back around, retrieving his weapon from his back once more as he approached Yalo.

"The boss wants us to find him quickly," the krogan said, clicking open the mod slot on his weapon. "He's planning on moving our operation to a new locale given the news you presented us. If you found us, no doubt somebody else will soon enough. And all the more reason to find the salarian quicker."

He ejected the mod, replacing it with a new one. He tossed one that looked similar to the one he just installed to Yalo, who caught it with one hand.

"Put that in your gun," Intarr said. "It'll turn your weapon into a mostly non-lethal, but still effective weapon. It's got a greater shield bypass, slows the shot down to do minimal damage and stamps a small amount of sedative material. They'll still bleed a little, but if you aim carefully you should just need one shot to bring them down. It takes a little time for the effect to kick in sometimes, so don't worry if you think you hit him and he keeps going for a little while."

"Interesting," Yalo said, turning it over in his hand. "And how well, exactly, does it work on krogan, what with that thick skin of yours and all?"

"The more I talk to you, quarian, the more I like you." Intarr chuckled loudly. "Now let's get going. That salarian already has a good lead on us."

"I suppose you have a fair idea where to look first?" Yalo asked, slotting the new mod into his Stinger.

"I have a fair idea where he might go," Intarr said. "He wants to get off this rock, and there aren't many places you can do that. He'll head for the nearest place he can scab a lift offworld from safely. That would be the docking port a few kilometres north of here."

"Then maybe we should let him then," Yalo suggested. Intarr's eyes widened in shock.

"What? Why the _hell_ would we do that?" the krogan snapped.

"Because I have a ship," Yalo smiled from behind his visor. "And that's where it's docked."

Try as he might, Intarr couldn't stop himself from laughing, as what started as a sinister and gravely chuckle became a loud belly laugh. Yalo wondered if a certain salarian somewhere between here and the port might just be speeding up.

* * *

Driving across the dusty plains in Intarr's ATV, it didn't take long for the newly formed allies to reach the port, which wasn't, of course, as professional, safe or friendly as most of the ones in council space. Like most places of similar function in the Terminus Systems, it was a place where you paid somebody a modest fee for the right to land as well as an additional fee for them to keep anybody from messing with it. This never quite guaranteed that should one return they wouldn't find their ship stripped of all useful parts or sold to somebody else, but most who were in the business tended to stick to their agreement. Said fees were high enough for it to be more profitable to remain honest, at least so far as looking after your ship went anyway. Yalo was actually pleased that he could soon get the ship out of there, and thus not have to pay too much. Intarr had assured him that once everything was sorted out that he would be able to keep his ship docked for no charge wherever his boss planned to set up next. Not only that, but Yalo would be getting paid for it. And if Intarr was telling the truth about how much even the lowest paid hired gun was getting, Yalo would earn as much as the reward was worth in just over two months. And that wasn't even including the bonus he and Intarr would get if they managed to bring Haedian back alive.

"How can he afford to pay you all so much?" Yalo had asked Intarr of his boss on the way to the port.

"He's a krogan warlord for one," Intarr had answered. "And he'd made a lot of credits as a merc over the years himself. He was actually making _billions_ through various business ventures without even doing anything, and made even more being a merc all the while. He believes in saving our people and is willing to pay a lot for it."

"Why does he need to? Why don't you other krogan do it for sentimental and personal reasons?"

"Because we're krogan," came Intarr's answer. "And he knows it. He's been there. We're warriors. We need to fight. And if we can't fight, we need a damn good reason for it. That's why he became a merc, even though he was making so many credits already. He needed to get out there and _be_ a krogan. He's hired us to fight for him when he needs us to, but that's it. We're in a situation where we're supposed to keep out of trouble, so we don't get to fight a lot. We're guards, but we go weeks and weeks without firing a single shot. That's the sacrifice we make. We have to give up part of what it is to be a krogan so that future generations won't have to. And it takes a lot of credits to buy krogan willing to do that. The cause helps, but it's not enough. Not for most krogan."

"Is it enough for you?" Yalo asked.

"Actually, it is," Intarr smiled. "I still get paid a lot, but this is something I would do for free. That's why I'm the one out here."

"Because you didn't cost any extra?"

"No," the krogan laughed. "Because the boss knows it. He knows I believe in the cause and support him more than the others, so my reward is to be the one to hunt these runaways down. Like I said earlier, I hadn't had any fun for weeks. Still... he offered me a bonus as well, which I suppose will be _our_ bonus now."

When he had said "our bonus now" there was no sign of bitterness or resentment in Intarr's voice, which led Yalo to believe he was being honest when he said he'd do it for free. The quarian couldn't believe this was the same krogan who had only moments earlier gunned down a salarian without any sign of remorse. But then, there was probably a reason for that. Yalo was shaken from his thoughts of the journey en route as the krogan spoke up again; both now standing before the _Spero_ in the docking bay.

"Here we are. Any ideas how to get him into your shuttle before he can hitch a ride with anybody else?"

"Are you sure he'll come here?" Yalo asked. "We didn't pass him on the way."

"He won't come here straight away. He wouldn't have even known about the place initially, but he'll find out, and he'll come."

"There's nowhere else he could go?"

"Not if he's smart," Intarr grunted. "No other ports for hundreds of kilometres, and pretty much anywhere else he tries will nab him and either kill him, take him as a slave or ransom him back to the boss. I'll bet he's smart enough to keep his head down until the right moment arises at least. If he doesn't show up here within the next few days, he probably won't show up anywhere. Salarians may be a weak, pitiful species, but they're not stupid."

"What about the one back there you killed?" Yalo asked.

"He wasn't stupid," Intarr smiled. "He was just rattled 'cause I'd be tailing him for the last few hours. _I'd_ be the same if I was being chased by me."

"Well, if that's the case, I believe the humans have a saying that basically goes, _if you can't lead the horse to water, lead water to the horse_," Yalo said. "Or something to that effect. I think it gets a little lost in the translation."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, basically, I'll go out there and present myself as somebody offering to transport anybody back to council space who is willing to pay my high, but fair, fee."

"You actually think being so blunt will work?"

"Got a better idea?" Yalo countered. Intarr frowned, grumbling slightly.

"I'll go and find a bar out of sight. Contact me if anything comes up."

Intarr strode away in standard krogan fashion; confident and as if he'd stop a turian frigate if it hit him. Yalo sighed, then left the docking area, making his way to the main entrance lobby.

* * *

The main entrance and foyer to the port would have been large had it not been cluttered with items and garbage; mostly randomly discarded items nobody wanted, but didn't want to get rid of entirely either. This mess made the place feel cramped and dirty, and a little unsafe. Looking around, Yalo was pretty sure every wall around him had weapon damage on it, and there were stains and markings randomly spattered about marking the places where their previous owners last drew breath. The place was actually fairly dark, thanks to a lack of windows and the fact that many of the lights had been shot out and never replaced, and no effort had been made to make it feel comfortable for any visitors. That was only one of the reasons Yalo decided to keep his gun drawn.

He attuned his senses, mostly to every bit movement around him, but also to any sounds. Two batarians stopped talking when he passed them, giving him an odd glance before continuing to chatter in a language of theirs. A turian with a heavily scarred face and only one eye nursed an assault rifle at the back wall, leaning against it casually and turning his head to take everything in like a roving security camera. Another batarian in a ragged blanket was moving from container to container, checking each one out carefully; every eye darting around as if the trash he was scrounging through contained precious stones. An elcor stood behind a poorly constructed stall selling items that looked almost as badly put together, with a shotgun wielding turian wearing heavy armour at his side. There was a bench near the entrance nobody was sitting on, so Yalo decided that was as good a place as any to wait.

For the next hour and a bit nothing really happened. The two talking batarians eventually left, heaving towards the shuttle bays. The scarred turian met up with some mercs and they made a fairly straightforward exchange of something Yalo thought he'd probably prefer not to know about. The ragged batarian disappeared for a while, only to return and check the containers again. Yalo noted he checked them in the same order as before for some reason. A few people approached the elcor, examined his items and made general small talk. Few bought anything. A few other deals seemed to take place, none thankfully turning violent. Intarr had contacted Yalo twice in the time, just to check up. Yalo was just thinking of calling the krogan again to suggest they switch places for a while so that he could rest and have something to eat himself when a particularly nervous looking salarian entered the main doors. He hadn't been the first through there during Yalo's wait, but he was the only one of such a light complexion that had came in from the outside rather than from the port. And he was the only one who looked frightened.

Yalo almost stood up straight away, but then realised he had to act more natural than that. He had to seem like he belonged here and had dealings here before. He wasn't entirely sure how to do that, but he had been given a few clues over his wait just from observing the local populace. The first thing he did was get into a more casual position; leaning forward with his elbows on his knees rather than sitting up rather rigidly. He watched the salarian carefully, making sure he wouldn't leave his sight. To say the salarian hadn't noticed him yet would probably be false, but there was no indication that he had noticed him any more than he had anything else in the room. Much like Yalo himself, the salarian was clearly taking as much in as he could with his bulbous, near-black eyes. The first thing he fixed on noticeably was the elcor shopkeeper, and after a few more glances around he approached him.

"Ex-excuse me," Yalo heard him say. "Co-could you perhaps help me?"

"Uncertain. That depends on the nature of your predicament, salarian," the elcor responded. The salarian looked around again, wringing his hands together.

"I... I need a ship. Or, at least, _passage_ on a ship. This is a docking port, yes? There are people here who will take me somewhere else, yes?"

"Affirmation. If you possess the credits to pay for the passage, there are those here who will take you places."

"Credits. Yes, yes... of course," the salarian said, smiling now for the first time since he entered. "Where would I _find_ such people?"

"Right here."

Yalo was standing right behind him now as he spoke, making the salarian jump with a slight yelp. He still held his pistol, which made the elcor's turian guard ready his shotgun swiftly. Yalo ignored this and kept talking.

"I couldn't help but overhear. Mostly because I make a point of listening in to conversations around here. I have a small shuttle and I'd be willing to take you somewhere. If the location isn't on my no-go list and you've got the credits, of course."

"I... I don't actually _have_ the credits on me, but I'll be able to get you them once we get to my destination. Believe me."

"I've heard that one before," Yalo said snidely.

"What if I paid tw- No, _three_ times as much as whatever your standard fee would be?"

Yalo pretended to think about it. He figured he'd seem more like the genuine article if he did.

"Make it four times, and you've got a deal. Though you still haven't told me where yet."

"It matters not," the salarian smiled. "Well... not exactly. Where you take me _precisely_ doesn't matter. Just so long as I make it to Council Space. Any major port of call there will be fine." A pause. "And, yes, yes, four times. Fine. As long as I get back."

"Okay, you have a deal," Yalo nodded. "We can leave straight away, if you'd like."

"That would be _sublime_," the salarian said, his words morphing into a relieved sigh.

"Follow me then," Yalo said, heading towards the docking bays. "I'll just contact my shipmate and tell him to meet us there."

* * *

Yalo and Doctor Haedian walked to the shuttle, the salarian noting its turian heritage as soon as he saw it. He also commented on how odd he thought it was to see a quarian in the Terminus Systems, particularly in the profession Yalo had claimed to be in. Yalo simply shrugged the comment off, telling the doctor he liked the pay and that life was more interesting outside the flotilla, neither of which were exactly false.

"Take a seat, we'll take off straight away," Yalo said, indicating a seat at the rear of the shuttle; a quarian addition to the ship. The salarian hadn't even sat down before he asked the obvious.

"What about your shipmate?"

"I'm already here," the doctor heard in a familiar voice of thunder and grinding, and he felt something press against the back of his head. "Time for you to go back where you belong. The boss has missed you."

"So close. So close!" Haedian blurted out, slamming his fists into the chair. Intarr laughed.

"Did you _really_ think you were getting off of here, doctor?"

The doctor looked over his shoulder and past the assault rifle at the krogan, eyes narrowing as a growl seethed from deep within his throat.

"There was a chance, krogan!" he snapped. "And as long as that chance was there, I had to take it. It matters not. As long as just _one_ of us makes it back to Citadel Space, you'll be finished!"

"That's not gonna happen," said the krogan, a slight shake of the head. "We rounded up everybody already. _You_ were the last. And I knew you'd come here. Every one else is safely back at the facility."

Intarr paused, chuckling a little, then added, "Oh, except for Palmera. I'm afraid he won't be joining us any more."

"You bastard! You had it in for him ever since he was taken!"

"Not true," Intarr said, feigning hurt. "Only since he opened his big trap. If you don't want to end up like him, I'd suggest keeping yours shut. And speaking of which..."

Intarr took a few steps back and fired the assault rifle into the salarian's left shoulder. It was just a single shot, but it was enough to make the doctor jolt forward and draw some blood. Haedian swore, reaching over to grasp at the wound with one hand, but instead ended up appearing to attempt a strange shoulder charge as he flopped forward off the chair like a jellied rag doll. Intarr turned his attention to Yalo, who had to this point simply been observing the two of them, having visibly jumped when Intarr had shot the scientist.

"He'll be fine," Intarr said, clipping his rifle back onto its holster."Did you forget the weapon mod or something?"

"No, but was that really necessary?" Yalo responded. Intarr nodded.

"I'll need to take the ATV back, so you'll be heading back to the facility on your own," the krogan explained. "Who's going to watch him while you're piloting the thing and I'm driving back?"

Yalo didn't respond. He didn't really need to, since the krogan made sense. He was still feeling more than a bit guilty about the whole situation though. While he ran the last few hours over in his head, Intarr activated an omni-tool of his own and started using it.

"I've uploaded the coordinates to your navigation system, as well as a code and password you'll need in order to gain access and not be fired upon on arrival. In either case, I'll contact them and tell them you're on your way. I'll see you there."

With a friendly nod the krogan left, the shuttle door closing behind him. Yalo looked back at the doctor, slumped on the floor in a less than dignified position. He was still bleeding at the shoulder a little, but Yalo knew any application of medi-gel might counter the effects of the drug in his system. Sighing, Yalo bent down and pulled Doctor Haedian back up onto the chair; trying to prop his limp form into the seat despite it wanting to keep sliding off. He eventually managed to hold him in place with the two seatbelts attached to the chair, then wrapped a piece of torn cloth around the doctor's shoulder to at least stem the bleeding somewhat.

_You know, you could just leave with the doctor and get the reward_, a little voice in the back of his head said. _The krogan has left you. You could stop feeling guilty about it all by just taking him back to Council Space and getting the reward. That was your original plan after all_.

"Plans change," Yalo said to the air. "And if I turned my back on Intarr and his krogan friends, I'd be turning my back on the quarian race too."

_How?_ the voice asked. _The reward is generous, and there will be other opportunities later. How would you be turning your back on them? On us?_

"Because they're fighting the same battle, even if they're not fighting the same war. And even if their means are questionable, their intent is not. And I'm already on the same path myself."

_I hope you won't end up regretting this_.

"I will. But not until later. I don't have time for regrets."

Yalo set his destination; his choice made up. He didn't like having to fight his conscience. It was never easy. Especially when it spoke to him with Linna's voice.


	5. Chapter 5

**Mass Effect****  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 5**

The place Yalo had been directed to was a large, flat building that was only a few storeys high, but very long and wide. Surrounded by fairly steep hills on all sides except one, it was so far away from anything else that aside from the main settlement where he had come from, hills and valleys were all Yalo could see, even from his vantage point in his shuttle several hundred metres above it. It made him wonder how the scientists had even been able to escape from the place and get very far. He assumed they must have hijacked an ATV like Intarr's, but then he wondered how they got split up after that.

_Intarr probably made chase, shot up the vehicle and they escaped and split up before it was run off the road or destroyed_, the quarian thought. _Or perhaps they abandoned it in the main settlement and split up to increase their chance of escape, rather than be caught together_.

It didn't matter now of course. But that didn't stop Yalo from feeling a little guilty about it all as he sent his craft into a descent towards the building. _If you can't do this without feeling guilty, how are you going to cope with things at the end? _The voice was right. He had to accept what was happening, putting any thoughts of doubt behind him. There was nowhere to go but forward, and for the moment, forward was down.

Upon touching down, Yalo disembarked from the _Spero_ to find himself greeted by two armed krogan; assault rifles their weapons of choice. One had dark red skin and dark grey armour, while the other was brown and had donned armour mottled with a grey and white camouflage pattern that would do him little service on this planet. Their stance and walk came across as very no-nonsense and firm, but didn't seem directly threatening or hostile. Clearly they were expecting him, and perhaps didn't fully trust him, but at least were giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Beyond them lay a large ship Yalo suspected was of krogan design, but wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't turian, salarian, asari or human, he knew that much. Perhaps once it was, and had simply been given an exterior design change. It was bright red, though had a dull surface rather than a shiny, reflective one, its shape giving it the appearance a fat lizard with no legs. It matched the description of the ship that had been seen in the Hawking Eta Cluster by the human vessel, making Yalo wonder why such a esoteric design had been used. A ship like that was hardly subtle after all. Then again, in space that didn't matter unless you were really close.

Sitting about the ship were crates and containers, which appeared to be currently in the process of being loaded onto the large vessel by other krogan. Some more krogan entered the bay through a couple of doors, more containers in tow. Intarr was right about his boss wanting to get off Iolciom quickly, that was clear. Considering it hadn't been long since the krogan had informed his boss, they had made excellent progress packing up the scientific equipment and starting to transport it. Yalo didn't get to take in much more than that before the red-skinned krogan spoke up, stopping before him.

"You must be Yalo. The boss wants to see you," he uttered, with a brief pause before adding, "The salarian aboard?"

Yalo just nodded, and the krogan turned to his brown-skinned companion, thrusting his large jagged head toward the shuttle.

"Go and get him. Put him straight in the ship."

"He's been hurt," Yalo stated as the other krogan brushed past him towards the shuttle. "Intarr shot him in the shoulder."

"I don't care about his pain," the red krogan snorted. "He'll live, that's enough. Now hurry up and get to the boss. He's up the stairs on the right. He wants to be done talking with you by the time we're ready to go."

"Why's that?" Yalo asked.

"Because he wants to see whether you're worth bringing along or not. While he trusts Intarr's judgment for the most part, it's still his call."

"And if I'm _not_ worth bringing along?"

"Maybe I should have said it differently," the krogan smiled. "I should have said whether you're worth bringing along _alive_ or not." He paused. "Nothing personal, quarian. Just a security precaution. If you're not with us, you might as well be against us. There's no neutral in this."

"To be neutral is to embrace death," Yalo answered. "We share a common enemy, krogan."

"And what enemy is that?"

"Fate," Yalo answered, then wandered past him towards the staircase.

* * *

The room Yalo was directed to seemed nothing fancy, and while one could surmise that perhaps any objects of stature and importance could have been already moved onto the ship, Yalo got the distinct idea it wasn't the case. The room was small and dark, with containers and crates serving as makeshift tables and desks. There were a couple of computer consoles sitting around that stood out by at least being ten years newer than anything else in the room, except maybe for the shotgun that lay atop a crate near the back wall. There were two krogan in the room; one packing some items into a crate, while the other was sitting at one of the computers and staring intently at it. Yalo could tell just from looking at him that this was the one in charge. Looking up from the console, the krogan smiled across the room at Yalo, then encouraged him to enter with one hand.

"Come in, quarian. I need to talk with you."

His attention then snapped to the other krogan as his voice took on a firm, gruff tone. "Certax! Leave us. I'll finish up in here, you go and help the others."

The krogan, who was of similar complexion to that of Intarr, simply nodded and strode past Yalo out the door. The krogan in charge wore a very dark armour, which matched his armoured forehead. Both were almost black. but where the light struck them just right Yalo could make out the slightest hint of brown. His face and throat were a mustard yellow, with splotches of tan dotted here and there, while two eyes of deep red gleamed like rubies on either side of his massive head. The most noticeable thing about him was that a portion of the left side of his natural forehead armour was damaged. Two of the spikes had been removed entirely, and an area the size of a salarian's head looked flattened and rough, almost as it had been scraped across rock for a long time with a lot of pressure. Perhaps it had. Perhaps it was the result of a narrow escape from a shotgun blast. Yalo wasn't going to ask though. At least not yet.

"Intarr seems to trust you, quarian," the krogan stated. "He thinks you'll be an asset to us."

"You disagree?" Yalo asked, deciding that if the krogan was going to get straight to the point he might as well too.

The krogan smiled, then inhaled deeply. Yalo had noticed that every time he spoke he seemed to do this, then let out whatever he said as one big exhale. The words would usually run together in a gruff, almost muffled way, but it never sounded rushed. The words were said fairly slowly, just as if they didn't have spaces between them.

"I'm not sure yet," the krogan boss said. "You've helped us out pretty well so far. You helped yet the salarian... brought him here by yourself. You seem willing to give us continued support. But Intarr said you were a little hesitant, which worries me."

"I don't question your cause," Yalo said. "Just your methods, perhaps." He paused. "I can't fully judge though. I haven't seen it all yet after all."

"Do you know what it is we're doing here?"

"I have my suspicions. Given what's happened so far and what Intarr told me."

"He said you were doing something similar," the krogan stated. "He said that's what convinced you. You felt we shared a common goal."

"I'm out helping my people, just like Intarr said he was helping his." A pause. "Yours."

The krogan stood up, and slowly strode away from his console to approach Yalo.

"Do you believe one must do everything they can to save their people in situations like ours?"

Yalo thought about the question. Considering it was the very question he had asked himself more than any other he thought he should know the answer, but he didn't.

"That depends," he settled on. The krogan narrowed his eyes.

"On what?"

"On the cost," Yalo stated.

"Both our peoples have certainly learned the lesson of _cost_, wouldn't you say?"

"I would like to think so," Yalo answered.

The krogan made a thoughtful sound in his throat, then turned around and slowly began returning to the console. Just before he reached it, Yalo spoke up.

"I have to wonder, why are you doing it now though? Why not _years_ ago? The longer you waited, the greater the chance you're perhaps too late."

The krogan turned a little, then looked back at Yalo over his shoulder.

"Gonamida," he said.

"Excuse me?" Yalo responded.

"My name," the krogan uttered. "I never told you it. It's Gonamida. Durrlex Gonamida."

Yalo didn't respond. He could tell from the thoughtful look on Gonamida's face he was going to speak again soon.

"There was something of a breakthrough regarding the genophage recently in the Sentry Omega cluster on a small planet called Virmire. Apparently it had even been cured, or was at least pretty damn close to it. Unfortunately pretty much all the hard work was destroyed when a nuclear explosion went off right where the research facility was. Everything was wiped out. Everything except for a few pieces of research I managed to get my hands on."

Gonamida's voice had gotten even more bitter towards the end, and Yalo could hear he was holding back something. Something emotional. It was after this that Gonamida stared right at Yalo.

"We spoke of costs before. Well, I paid a big one to get that information. And I hope it's damn well worth it."

"You had a friend on the planet who knew about the bomb and sent you the information just before it went off," Yalo stated as if he knew. "You lost them right after getting it from them."

"Worse than a friend," Gonamida said. "It was my daughter. She had been hired as a scientist to work on the project. She didn't even have time to say good-bye properly, she just sent me the research notes and that was it. She probably thought adding anything personal beyond that would mean they wouldn't get to me if the bomb went off. She was always a smart one."

"You must have been proud of her," Yalo said. "I imagine few krogan females ever became scientists."

Yalo felt a bit awkward after those words, realising that it might have come across as an insult when it was actually intended to be a compliment. Gonamida just smiled sideways at him and then laughed a little.

"I never said she was a krogan," he told Yalo. "But that didn't make me any less proud of her, that's for sure."

"Sorry," Yalo said. "I shouldn't have assumed."

"Why not, most people do," Gonamida said heartily. "I've always been a proud krogan and proud to _be_ a krogan. And I was too proud to let the genophage get in the way of my heritage and legacy carrying on. I met a beautiful asari during my time as a mercenary who hired me on to do some jobs for her. We ended up becoming rather attached to each other over time, one thing led to another and before we knew it we were a couple. Still are actually, even though she's a Matriarch on Thessia now. She's been the secret of my success and the mother of my three beautiful daughters. It doesn't matter that they aren't krogan."

"Why are you telling me this?" Yalo asked. "We've only just met."

"Because I want you to know _why_ this means so much to me," Gonamida stated. "I may be in charge of this project, but that doesn't mean I expect you to do what I say without knowing _why_ you should. You shouldn't do it out of fear, you should do it out of trust and understanding. I _could_ be a real hard-ass about this, but that defeats the point of it all."

"No offense, but I didn't expect to hear something like that from a krogan warlord," Yalo admitted.

"It's amazing what spending a few centuries around an asari will do to you," Gonamida smiled with a chuckle. "There's beauty to them beyond their outer appearances, quarian. They can be wise beyond your imagination."

"What about the others working for you?" Yalo queried. "Is there a mutual trust there?"

"To a degree, but aside from Intarr, it's mostly the credits keeping them loyal," Gonamida sighed. "Intarr's a rare breed. I'd like to say he reminds me of me when I was a young krogan, but to tell the truth I was a lot more like the others back then. I can't blame them though, they _are_ krogan after all. They hate the genophage, that can't be denied, but they'd still rather bash in a salarian or turian's head who had _nothing_ to do with the thing than actually do anything serious about it. It's not that they don't care, it's that when you're born to fight it's hard to push those instincts aside.

"But you're different. You're _not_ a krogan, and you're apparently doing something to try and help your people too. I know of the quarians and what happened to them. Though I can't pretend to understand what that feels like, I feel both of us are victims of The Council being rather heavy-handed with their punishment. And that's me putting it politely."

"So you're merely trying to right the wrongs of the Council?" Yalo asked.

"That's merely a side effect. I'm trying to save my people. What's done is done, there's no point looking at the past except to learn from it. It's the future that matters." The krogan paused. "And all I need to know is, will you help me with that future?"

"I shall," Yalo said with a nod. "At least until I need to follow my own path."

"I don't know when that will be, but I don't plan on this genophage cure being too far away." Gonamida smiled. "I'm sorry if that'll mean less money for you than if it took longer. In either case, that's a good enough answer for me, especially given what Intarr said about you. But I still want to hear _your_ story."

"I'm... I'm not sure where to begin," Yalo said. "And it all depends on how much you really know about the quarians."

"Don't worry, I don't expect you to tell me now. That can wait. We don't have the time anyway, as we'll be off soon."

"You've already got another location?" Yalo said, clearly surprised at the speed Gonamida had organised everything.

"I had it already," the krogan said proudly. "A project as important as this needs alternatives to all foreseeable setbacks."

"Such as escaping scientists?"

"That particular setback wasn't quite as foreseen as the others," Gonamida said with a slight frown. "But it's taught us not to underestimate the resourcefulness of salarian and turian scientists. And to keep at least one eye on them at all times."

* * *

Gonamida got his story from Yalo during the trip to the new research site, or at least the portion of it Yalo was willing to tell. Some details were still fuzzy even to him, and he wasn't entirely sure how he'd accomplish some of the necessary steps, but it was enough to satiate Gonamida. The planet they traveled to was located deeper into the Terminus Systems, and currently under Batarian control. Named Bersilius, it only had one major city with a few minor settlements scattered around it. As far as the Batarians were concerned it was just a barren rock whose only significance was the high concentration of palladium in the eastern hemisphere and some underground thorium deposits. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much thorium present as was initially thought, and several facilities built in order to make use of the element were shut down within only a couple of years. It was one of these abandoned facilities that Gonamida had purchased, and he was particularly happy with the location of it.

"It's only five kilometers from the city and it's built into the side of a mountain, so doesn't stand out as much as the old place," Gonamida had told Yalo on the way. "There's also a nice little feature before the entrance of the place, though hopefully one that won't bite us in the ass."

While the ship descended Gonamida pointed at the base of the mountains below them. The surface and mountains on the planet were saffron, and where the krogan warlord indicated lay small bulging hills of dust and sand on otherwise flat terrain.

"There's a thresher maw somewhere deep in that," Gonamida explained. "There's no security quite like an eighty plus metre long worm of death on your doorstep."

"I'm surprised you didn't choose this location as your first one," Yalo responded.

"This one costs a little more for one," Gonamida said. "Secondly, there's nowhere to park the ship without it being out in the open. After we drop off all the stuff, it'll have to be flown to the city spaceport and I'll have to pay to keep it stored in a hangar there."

* * *

Once the gear, scientists and krogan had been offloaded it only took a few hours to get it all set up again. Yalo was impressed by the efficiency of the krogan, despite many of the scientists complaining about wasted time and delicate work not being able to be rushed. Most of the time the krogan simply brought up the attempted escape on Iolciom as the cause of their problems, and whether the scientists believed it or not they usually kept quiet after that. Shortly after all the setup was complete, Yalo finally saw two krogan leading Dr. Haedian over to a console. The salarian looked particularly displeased, often mumbling something under his breath Yalo couldn't quite catch. The only thing he heard clearly was the irritated call of, "yes, I'm moving! Stop prodding me!" as one of the krogan had given him a swift jab in the back. He seemed to be fine otherwise, and hadn't noticed Yalo, who was observing with Intarr from a raised platform attached to the cavern walls.

The place was definitely different from the old one. Whoever had made it had done a decent job of converting what must have been a large cave into a science facility. Walls and a floor had been put in to make it seem as if it were a properly constructed building, and it was only by looking up and seeing the rocky cavern ceiling one would be able to tell otherwise. Some rooms were entirely self-contained, like little buildings of their own, and actually had an artificial ceiling built atop them. A lot of lighting had been put in to combat the darkness, mostly situated along the top of the walls just as they were about to meet the natural rock. Above it all were several raised walkways and platforms, such as the ones Yalo and Intarr were standing upon, which made observing what was going on below fairly easy. One of the places these led to was a room built onto the cliff face just above the only entrance and exit, where Gonamida had put his own office. Lack of space had meant that there was no room to store the ATV's, so two of them were parked on the surface near the entrance while the rest were still on Gonamida's ship. The two outside were covered with a special vehicle tent designed to resemble clumps of rock the same colour and texture of the hills around it. They hadn't been cheap for Gonamida, but were a necessary precaution and would do the job sufficiently if well treated.

"Should be easier to guard the troublemakers in this place," Intarr said to Yalo. "Only one way in or out for one. The boss says he's gonna reverse their shifts here too."

"How do you mean?" Yalo queried.

"He's gonna have them working when it's night on the surface and they can sleep when it's day. It's underground here so nobody'll notice or care. It's a twenty hour day on this world it's fifteen hours of work and five of rest."

"Gonamida's incredibly fair considering," Yalo said with surprise, his gaze returning to the scientists below.

"They're not slaves, they're workers, and he treats them as such. They're just workers who don't have an option to go home."

"Or get paid," Yalo added.

"They get free food, accommodation and entertainment. That's enough. And they'll get to leave once they've done the job."

"They get entertainment?" Yalo asked, even more surprised than before.

"They get to play some games now and then if they want. They get to read. They can't access anything linked into an external network of course, despite many wanting to hear about what's going on out there. If there's anything important enough the boss'll make an announcement while they're working." Intarr paused. "Sometimes I think he's a bit easy on the bastards."

"Because their salarians and turians?" Yalo said. Intarr snorted, gazing away at nothing in particular.

"Probably. I'm not gonna pretend I'm not prejudiced against them. I am. Gonamida thinks that they're stressed enough just being here, and that they'll produce faster results if they're not stressed any more than they have to be. He's a smart man, and maybe he's right. But..."

Intarr trailed off, and Yalo could hear a slight growl in his throat as his eyes narrowed. Yalo thought he needed some vocal prodding.

"But?"

"But they're turians and salarians!" Intarr spat. "They don't _deserve_ to be treated well. Not after what they did to us."

"Even if they had nothing to do with the genophage?" Yalo asked. "After all, there's no salarian alive that _could_ have."

Intarr turned towards Yalo, his teeth bared. He seemed to get a few feet taller as he took a step closer and for a moment Yalo thought the krogan was going to bite his head off or something. Instead, the krogan spoke in a soft, but firm, rumble.

"Have you ever met the thresher maw that's outside our base right now?"

"No," Yalo answered.

"Then you go outside and run across the surface and see if it does anything else other than what _all_ thresher maws do. If you make it back alive, I'll concede. Hell, I'll even _free_ every last scientist here!"

"That's not the same," Yalo said. "It's an instinct, not the choice of an intelligent being capable of making decisions."

"A thresher maw is a thresher maw," Intarr stated. "And a salarian is a salarian. And a turian a turian. It's all the same."

Intarr turned and began walking away, when Yalo called something out that made him stop in his tracks.

"And a krogan is a krogan. Yet I thought krogan were warriors, not _baby-sitters_ for a bunch of scientists."

Intarr growled deep in his throat, feeling and urge to turn back around. Instead he just grit his teeth a little more and continued along the walkway.

* * *

Yalo watched the scientists at work for a little while more, then decided to wander down to see Haedian. He had a niggling sensation that something had to be said to the salarian. Quite what that was Yalo didn't know, but he wasn't going to feel better about what happened unless he did. He wasn't quite sure what Gonamida's policy on talking to the scientists was, though he suspected something along the lines of it being rather frowned upon for reasons relating to distraction and interrupting their work if nothing else. Then again, he couldn't fathom any of the krogan wanting to start up a casual conversation with them. Yalo knew maybe it would be best if he waited until their break, but he still felt the need to talk to Haedian. He wanted to at least get that minor burden off his chest.

"Well. If it isn't the quarian who betrayed me."

The salarian's words were sharp but emotionless, and he hadn't even turned his head away from his console upon uttering them, despite Yalo's approach from his rear.

"How di--"

"A krogan's footsteps are very easy to place," Haedian interrupted. "It was obvious you weren't a krogan, you walked too lightly and your footfalls are quite different. And since you're the only non-krogan who isn't being held against their will here, I made an assumption. It's no surprise it was correct. Now do you have something to say, or are you here to mock me or waste my time?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the deception, but it was something that had to be done," Yalo explained.

"Sor--" the doctor started, before cutting himself off. "Something that _had_ to be done?"

Haedian turned around, facing Yalo for the first time since he had been shot aboard the _Spero_.

"Do you have _any_ idea what is going on in this place?" Haedian asked in a voice that Yalo couldn't tell was being sarcastic or not. "We are _not_ doing something that _has_ to be done."

"Seems more like you're actually _un_doing something that _didn't_ have to be done," Yalo countered.

Haedian responded with a snort of contempt that jerked his head, the action seeming to turn one side of his mouth up into a smirk.

"An impudent one, aren't we. Think whatever you want, but don't complain to _me_ when you won't even be able to go to the most barren world in council space without bumping into a dozen krogan."

"I see. You sent out a bunch of hungry varren, and when the food runs out you complain when they bite you and say it's _their _fault."

"Our ancestors did what they had to do. The krogan were out of control. It was inhumane, I admit that. But it was a necessary evil."

"The only reason it's not called genocide is because of the nature of it," Yalo said. "It's just _delayed_ genocide, that's all."

"What's done is done," Haedian grunted, turning back to his console. "It won't matter though. Somebody will stop this. You will see."

"What makes you think that?"

"They'll come for me. I'm too important to be left here. My people will want answers. _That_ was the krogan's mistake. They might have gotten away with this if they'd just stuck to no-name biologists like most of the rest. But they had to grab _me_."

"My, my. Aren't we the modest one," Yalo said. "I'd kiss your boots, but taking my helmet off is kind of fatal. Quarians are particularly susceptible to arroganteria."

"If there's a smile on your face, it will soon be wiped off," Haedian said with a glance over his shoulder. "It may _sound_ like arrogance, but there's more truth to it than you know. Now please leave me alone, I have some complicated biological algorithms to analyze."

Yalo paused to regard the doctor for a few more seconds, then silently turned and walked away. What the salarian had said made a lot of sense. Why else would there be a substantial reward offered for his return and not the others? Yalo figured he must have been working on something very important when he was taken. He had said that his people would want answers, which could suggest he was working for a very important salarian company, one perhaps linked directly to the salarian government, or even the government itself. Salarians were known for always developing the most advanced technology, so if Haedian really had been part of something major, there was no doubt the salarians would want him back. The question was, how badly?

* * *

Yalo didn't see Intarr or Dr. Haedian again until it was time for all the scientists to be rounded up and herded into their quarters until the next night. The quarters just consisted of a cavern containing few small cubicles with stretchers in them. Aside from this there were a few large tables surrounded by chairs in the middle of the cavern, a water dispenser in one corner and a couple of portable bathroom stalls at the other end. There were, by Yalo's count, fourteen scientists there. The majority were salarians, at eleven, with three turians making up the rest. After they'd been ushered in by the krogan, Intarr uttered something about food and three krogan nodded and disappeared back the way they'd come. Yalo had been watching this from just out of the way the whole time, and though he didn't know whether Intarr felt like talking to him or not, he wandered over and spoke.

"I was talking to Doctor Haedian today."

"You shouldn't have," Intarr said, his voice firm but not directly threatening. "The boss doesn't like the scientists distracted from the work. _Especially_ Haedian."

"I didn't talk long," Yalo said, half defense and half simple honesty. "He didn't say anything directly about it, but the way he spoke seemed to indicate he was working on a rather important project before he was taken."

Intarr sighed a bit, then looked over his shoulder at the krogan behind him; there were two just inside the natural rock doorway to the scientists' dormitory and another two just outside it, waiting patiently. After giving his neck a stretch, Intarr spoke again.

"This is the best time of the day," he smiled. "Once they're in there, we all get to do what we want for a while. Except for whoever has the watch of course."

"I thought you'd prefer guarding them. Just for that slight chance they might pull something and you get to shoot somebody?" Yalo decided he might as well just go along with Intarr despite him obviously trying to change the subject.

"You'd think that, but when the last lot escaped they actually did it from their quarters at night," Intarr said, a wide grin on his face. "And nobody got to fire a shot."

Yalo was about to speak, but had to step aside as the krogan who had left before returned with several large crates. Once they passed, Intarr spoke again.

"Come on. Let's go for a drive."

"A drive?" Yalo responded as Intarr strolled past him down the passageway. "Where could we possibly be going?"

"Not really sure. I'll know when I see it," the krogan called back.

* * *

It was night outside at the moment, though when Yalo commented on it Intarr said the sun would be up soon. Despite this the surface of the planet was still fairly well illuminated, albeit now coloured a dark turquoise rather than yellow. This was thanks both to the clear sky and the massive blue moon sailing across the sky. Yalo watched as it seemed to descend down upon the horizon, its sheer scale and proximity causing him to half expect the entire planet to shake when one visibly met the other. Another smaller, darker and not-quite-round moon followed it soon after, almost like a baby following its parent. As the ATV sped across the terrain, mountains on one side and the thresher maw nest on the other, Intarr spoke up finally, continuing on the subject from before as if there had been no ten minute gap in the conversation.

"Those sneaky bastards had come up with some kind of soporific gas when we weren't looking, using some chemicals from the lab stations. They knew night was the best time to strike, as there were ever only two of us watching them at the time. One of them put the solution in his drinking cup, and then went to the water dispenser to fill it. Water was the final ingredient to turn the stuff into the sleeping gas, and he threw it at the krogan guards' feet, then put one of the lab masks over his mouth that he'd snuck into his pocket. Unfortunately for him, one of the guards got to him and knocked him unconscious with the butt of his assault rifle, but only just before the gas effected him and he fell down. The remaining scientists all made a break for it and ran straight for the vehicles. It wasn't until we heard the sound of an ATV starting up that we realised what was happening, and before we knew it, they were on their way out."

"Didn't you make chase?" Yalo asked.

"Eventually. Once we'd replaced the wheels on our remaining ATV's. Bastards had thrown some kind of acid on them before they'd taken off."

"Well, I hope you've learned a very important lesson from this," Yalo said.

"What's that?"

"Don't keep the water dispenser so close to where the guards are standing."

Intarr laughed. He turned the vehicle left, now setting it driving up the slope of a moderately steep hill rather than on the mostly flat terrain they were on before.

"I learned what happens when you're too soft on salarians and turians," Intarr uttered. "You can't turn your head away from those guys for a second. The problem is, none of us really _know_ anything about science or biology, so we can't tell when they're trying to cure the genophage or when they're making something to escape."

"At least it wasn't lethal," Yalo said. "I mean, they just came up with a sleeping gas when they just as easily could have probably killed those guards."

"Well, that's the _other_ thing, isn't it?" Intarr said, his voice becoming even more bitter.

"How do you mean?"

"How do we know they'll really _cure_ the genophage? How do we know they won't just come up with some kind of thing that looks like it cures us, but makes things worse in the end? I mean, come on... these guys are smart. You can say that I'm prejudice towards them all you want, but I'm never going to deny that those scientists are on the ball. So how do you know they won't come up with something that seems like a cure, and gets spread around every krogan across the galaxy, only for it to have some kind of side-effect that after a certain amount of time makes us even _more_ unlikely to breed? Or even just kills us."

"Well, that's just life, isn't it?" Yalo said with a shrug that probably seemed a little too casual. Intarr just looked at him sideways, then without a word returned his attention to driving.

* * *

The ATV leveled out as it reached the peak of the hill, Intarr bringing it to a halt upon a mostly-flat slab of rock. Looking into the turret's periscope for a while as he tilted and turned it, the krogan eventually smiled and left the vehicle. Curious, Yalo followed, and found him retrieving a large sniper rifle from the back of the vehicle. Looking around him, Yalo realised that the view was quite spectacular from there. The hill might not have been that tall compared to some of the mountains in the area, but it still provided a decent vantage point of the surrounding area. Back the way they'd came from Yalo could see the entire thresher maw nest, backed by the mountains containing the facility. In the opposite direction was a valley winding amongst some lesser hills, and to the left of that a fairly large mountain arched up before joining several others. To the right the land got flatter, and Yalo could see the main settlement with a buildup of vegetation beyond leading into some distant hills. After he was done taking all this in, he looked for Intarr, then found the krogan sitting on a rock holding the sniper rifle.

"I hope you're not planning on having me run down the hill while you take shots at me or something," Yalo said, half joking and half a little worried it might be true. Intarr smiled at the comment.

"If I'd wanted to do that, I'd have brought one of the salarians along," he said. "For the moment, we just wait."

"Well, while we're waiting, perhaps you can tell me why you avoided the subject of Doctor Haedian?" Yalo suggested.

"Funny you should say that, I was thinking he'd probably be the one I'd bring," Intarr chuckled.

"He seems to think that it was a mistake taking him," Yalo said, his tone particularly serious to tell Intarr he wasn't going to let him ignore the subject any more. Intarr let out a weary sigh.

"Look, I don't really know exactly _what_ he was doing when we took him. All I knew was the boss wanted him and that he was working on something for the Salarian Union. I don't know what it was, and neither did the boss as far as I know."

"So he _is_ working for the salarian government directly then," Yalo said. "That's a pretty big risk to take. No wonder there's a reward for his return."

"The Salarian Union has no power here in the Terminus Systems," Intarr responded. "If they sent anything here they'd have a war on their hands. The other council races probably wouldn't even support them if they decided to go in alone without approval, and lets face it, the salarians aren't exactly the strongest in a military sense."

"It's still a big risk to take."

"The boss thought it was necessary. The scientists we had weren't getting anywhere quickly, and he thought we needed _the best_ to get the job done. It had been easy enough taking the others, so he figured that taking somebody a little more renowned would be worth the risk. So he did some research and picked two names: Haedian and Palmera."

"Wait a moment. Wasn't Palmera the one you killed on Iolciom?"

"Don't you mean the one _you_ killed?" Intarr smirked.

"Whatever. Wasn't he?"

"Yeah. That's the one all right. Let me guess... you're wondering why I killed him when he was so important, right?"

"That's pretty much it, yeah."

"He was a thorn in our side for far too long," Intarr growled. "Don't get me wrong, he was smart. Probably not as brilliant as Haedian is, but he had a different perspective on things than most of the other scientists. Unfortunately, that caused conflicts. Not just with the other scientists, but with us. He was always insisting on this and that. He wanted access to special materials. He wanted his own computers. He wanted to work alone. He was a crafty bastard."

"What do you mean by that?" Yalo asked.

"The whole thing was an act. He wanted it to _look_ like he didn't get on with anybody and that he was this self-obsessed recluse who thought the others were beneath him. What we didn't know was that he was really trying to get them all out of there. None of us would suspect the mastermind of any escape attempts to be the one nobody liked. He had each of the others perform a minor task over several days. These would be innocent things by themselves at isolated times by different people. But when put together and coordinated, they became a devious escape plan that was pretty damn close to working."

"How did you find all this out?" Yalo asked.

"From the poor salarian who was left behind during the escape," Intarr smiled. "He told us everything. Once we knew that, Palmera didn't seem quite as essential as originally thought. Haedian is now more important than ever though. Hopefully he won't attempt to be Palmera's successor."

"I doubt it," Yalo said. "He seems convinced that he's going to be rescued and you'll all be stopped."

"Here it comes."

"Huh?"

Intarr pointed to Yalo's right and the quarian noticed a brightness on the horizon. It began to grow, both in size and intensity, and in moments most of the surrounding land transformed from dark teal to sandy yellow as the newborn sun bathed it in warm luminance. Intarr bent down on one knee, aiming the sniper rifle towards a far off mountain side to the left; directly opposite the rising sun. He pulled the trigger and fired, making Yalo jump a little, then looked up at the quarian, handing the rifle to him.

"There's some strange plants on the mountainside over there," Intarr explained. "They're basically these stalks with a yellow ball on the top. I found them here when we first checked out the place, and thought they were good target practice, especially since I never get to actually shoot anything that moves. Have a shot or two. They can sway in the wind a little so you'll have to time it right."

Yalo took the rifle, then knelt down, aimed and fired off a shot. He missed the ball he was aiming for, which given the distance looked to be about the size of his head. He took another couple of shots, hitting it on the third try. It seemed to release a puff of bright purple spores upon exploding, which were bright enough for Intarr to see even without the scope. He nodded approval.

"Good job. They can be tricky. Have a few more shots."

Yalo aimed at took another shot, missing the next ball. He aimed again.

"There's one thing I noticed about your story, Intarr," he said, then fired again. Another miss.

"Yeah. What's that?"

"You said that after the escape, Palmera didn't seem as essential as you originally thought," Yalo said. Another shot, another miss.

"Yeah. So?"

"You never said that Gonamida actually _said_ that you could kill him when you caught him."

Yalo fired again. Another spray of pink spores erupted into the air on the mountainside. Intarr grinned widely.

"No. I didn't, did I?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 6**

The first week on Bersilius passed slowly for Yalo. The pay was good, as Intarr had told him, but time seemed almost nonexistent most of the time. The fact that only Gonamida had access to the one terminal linking beyond the underground facility meant he couldn't even find out any goings on beyond the planet. The quarian wasn't sure how the krogan were coping, given their lust for battle and the fact that coming from the flotilla at least gave him somewhat of a tolerance for moments of monotonousness. Aside from the odd conversation with Intarr if they shared a patrol, the only moments of any real interest were when the two of them drove out with the sniper rifle for some target practice; a mere hour every couple of days that felt like about ten minutes. It was about to tick over to another week when something interesting happened.

The scientists were all at their stations, with just under three hours to go until it was time for them to rest. The surface outside the mountains was lit only by the faint blue glow of its larger moon, the sun about five hours away from changing it back to a warm yellow, but few inside were paying attention to this. Yalo was currently promenading around the lower sections of the facility, checking each room as he wandered a travel path he shared with another krogan, albeit not simultaneously. Two more krogan covered the railings above, while another stood in the middle of the main research cubicle amid the scientists. One guarded the door out, another guarded the door to Gonamida's office, and somewhere beyond the former Intarr and another krogan covered the entrance, just inside the main front door.

Yalo had been going over recent events in his head, currently in a state of fledgling doubt as to whether this was the right way to go. Part of him realised he was perhaps merely being impatient, and the overall boredom of the job was getting to him, while another part of him thought he might have been wasting time and needed to choose another way of reaching his goals faster. His internal battle didn't last longer than a few minutes before he heard a sound that shook him out of it. A dull and distant thud, the noise sounded as if it had come from somewhere beyond the door that led back to the surface, but when Yalo swirled around he noticed that the guard standing before it hadn't even moved, nor had anybody else in the vicinity reacted in any way. Making a small noise of indifference, Yalo resumed his route. A few seconds later he heard one of the krogans above cough, but thought nothing of it. At least not until he heard the second elevated guard join him. Yalo looked up in time to see the first one drop to his knees as the coughing became worse, while the second one leaned forward on the railing before him.

"What the..." the guard near the main entrance uttered, stepping closer before coughing himself.

The attentions of some of the salarians and turians shifted from their work to the hacking krogan. A salarian holding a beaker of liquid in one hand and a test tube in the other looked at both items, placed them swiftly on the bench before him and reached for a nearby filter mask, only to cough a few times before he could reach it and collapse to the floor. While everybody else began to start coughing, the first victim above fell onto his side, and the second slumped forward against the railing he was already using as support. Unfortunately, with the full weight of his body now pressed upon them, the metal bars began to creak and bend. Before they could even snap, the now unconscious krogan toppled over the edge and smashed headfirst onto a desk with several science terminals, taking out the thin cubicle wall it was positioned against as well. Yalo rushed to the fallen krogan, knowing that the thick natural armour upon his head and back probably meant he wasn't seriously injured, but making sure anyway.

It was then that Yalo got a sensation that he wasn't alone, and upon hearing what sounded like a careful footfall behind him he spun around, gun at the ready. The whirrs and clicks of two separate pistols rang in unison between the quarian and his adversary, both finding themselves with their respective guns trained upon the other's head, neither at the advantage or disadvantage of the other.

"Well," a muffled, distorted voice said. "Looks like we have a stalemate."

It was hard to tell precisely, but the voice sounded female, and given the rise of their chest and narrow of their waist, it likely was. Her species wasn't immediately clear, her helmet concealing her face entirely with even the tiny gap where eyes peered between guard and bill obscured by darkness. Like her helmet, the body armour she wore was completely black, appearing to be a light armour consisting of a lot of straps and buckles, particularly around her arms and guessed she was either human or asari given her build, with the latter being more likely given the style of armour.

"What do you want?" Yalo asked. She cocked her head to one side.

"Well, aren't _we_ the direct one," came her response. "I didn't know quarians were so forthright. But then, I haven't dealt with many of them." A pause. "I certainly didn't expect to find one here."

"I suspect if you had you would have thought of a better solution than some kind of gas in the air filtration system."

A wry chuckle sounded from beyond the helmet. Yalo felt an ironic sense of frustration at not being able to see her face and read her expressions.

"I was hoping that anybody who didn't succumb to the gas quickly would simply think it was the result of one of the scientists' mixing of substances," she explained. "Doesn't quite work when there's somebody with a permanent mask on. Especially one with something inside it, unlike the krogan."

It was Yalo's turn to turn his head to one side now. There were too many factors in her last sentence to make things as simple as they initially seemed.

"That's a rather odd gamble to make," Yalo said.

"What is?"

"The fact that the scientists here were working on something involving chemicals. You must have had some foreknowledge to know that."

"Of course," came a proud response. "That, and experience."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've been here before," came her immodest answer.

"What? When?"

"Two days ago. I observed the area briefly, then left."

"Impossible. How could you have even got in? You would have been stopped."

"One cannot stop what they cannot see," she answered. "Speaking of which, I don't remember seeing you either."

Yalo thought. If she had come relatively the same time yesterday as she had now he'd have been off with Intarr shooting at the spore podules. He was trying to contemplate how she got in undetected when he noticed red flashing appearing at her wrist. This was immediately followed by her tightening the grip on her pistol and a change of attitude from flippant and casual to direct and serious.

"Where is Doctor Haedian?" she demanded. "Tell me! Now!"

"You're hardly in a position to order me around," Yalo said. "My gun is at your head just as much as yours is at mine."

Yalo could just hear the smirk on her following words. "Not as much as you think, quarian."

Yalo didn't know what to make of this. Did she have backup somewhere he couldn't see? Given her earlier comments it could be the case, assuming her claims were true. But he didn't even know who she was. He suspected a mercenary out for the reward he had once chased himself. But did that mean she worked alone, or with others?

"All I need to do is pull the trigger and my problem is solved," Yalo said.

"You'll hit the ground before I will," she countered. She sounded confident, but Yalo decided that if there were any bluff there, he may as well call it.

"I don't think so. You've clearly decided to release a harmless gas into the ventilation system. I suspect you'd rather not kill anybody. And that includes me."

"I can't kill the one I'm after. The reward is pointless if he's dead."

"You could have released a compound that would only harm krogans."

"Assuming I could acquire such a substance."

"You could have shot me in the back long before I turned on you."

"And who would tell me which salarian was Haedian if I had done that?"

"Who would have had I not been here?"

"I would have found out eventually."

"You're a fresh-off-Thessia rookie mercenary who has some skills in stealth but can't bring herself to take a life."

"You're a piece of lowly flotilla trash who probably bought that gun less than a week ago with some spare parts."

"I took a life with this thing less than three weeks ago."

"Then you'll have no problem pulling that trigger now then either."

The room fell as silent as the deepest of space. Was she bluffing? Would she pull her trigger? Yalo didn't know what to think. She sounded confident enough, but was her face twisted in doubt beyond that visor like his own? One thing was for sure, if she managed to succeed in her plan, Yalo's ones would be hampered. He made a call, hoping he wouldn't regret it later.

A single shot rang out, echoing through the caverns. Yalo's finger had squeezed, sending a sliver of mass accelerated metal right through the asari's helmet and out the other side, where it blasted a hole through the wall behind her. The only problem was that the tiny projectile appeared to have never made contact with the helmet in the process, passing through it as easily as it did thin air. Yalo was briefly startled, giving her a chance to counter with a deft blow to his chest, startling him even more as her hand appeared to pass partially through his chest before he felt any impact. He was sent soaring backwards, the gun slipping from his fingers midair before he made contact with an empty desk and reduced it to a pile of splintered plastic.

Sitting up with a groan, Yalo looked up to see his adversary standing before him, her pistol aimed squarely at him. He noticed the once blinking light on her wrist stopping, then found himself surprised once again as she disappeared before his eyes, only to appear about a metre to the left in the exact same pose.

"Stand up," she ordered.

Wincing a little at the pain, the quarian reluctantly got to his feet, watching as the gun stayed trained on his head. Beyond the asari lay his weapon, definitely out of reach. But he did spot a shotgun belonging to the once lofty krogan just to his left. With a groan, Yalo arched his back, reaching behind with both arms as if to rub it. Instead, there was a brief flash of orange and the asari found her weapon beeping loudly.

"You sneaky--"

Her sentence was cut off as Yalo swiped the gun from her hand, sending it flying over a broken section of wall into where most of the stunned scientists lay. Yalo pulled his fist back in preparation for another blow, but there was a blue flash and a wave of biotic energy rippled from his opponent, sending him flying backwards in a similar fashion to before. While Yalo made contact with the floor and rubble once more, the mystery asari rolled backwards, collecting Yalo's own weapon from the ground in the process. As she rolled back onto her feet again, she swept the newly acquired weapon towards him, discovering he had a shotgun trained on her, despite still being sprawled on the ground. He held it in one arm, which would probably injure him if he fired it given his odd position, but would no doubt hurt her more. A slight grunt of resigned interest sounded beyond her helmet.

"Another stalemate I see," she said. "I really _do_ have to find another opponent to play with who's not quite so... vexatious."

"I thought you'd be the type who likes a challenge?"

"I prefer outclassing my opponents completely," she answered. "I look better that way."

"I hope your biotic shields are good," Yalo said. "Actually, that's not true... I really _don't_ hope that at all."

A derisive laugh of sarcastic disbelief sounded from beyond her helmet. "Do you expect me to believe you'll actually pull that trigger?"

"I did last time. And as far as I can tell, you're out of tricks."

The asari was silent for a few seconds, before abjectly uttering "indeed" and lowering her weapon. Yalo got to his feet carefully, grasping the shotgun properly as soon as he got a chance to.

"So. What do I do with you now?" he pondered aloud, taking his pistol back from her.

"You could help me."

Yalo laughed, not sure whether it was the suggestion itself or the rather flippant way she'd said it. "If you're hoping to make me drop this gun with laughter, you're mistaken," he stated.

"Why not? We can split the money, right down the middle. The reward _doubled_ a few days ago. The salarians must really want him back. They might even throw in a bonus for delivery."

Yalo thought about it. Assuming she was telling the truth and all worked out well, that was a decent amount of credits. Combined with what he had already earned, it would be a good start to things. The thing was, could he earn more staying where he was? And what about his loyalty to Gonamida and the other krogan?

"That might have been tempting," he told her. "But I've got a good thing going on here. I'm loyal to these krogan and if Haedian goes, it puts a big damper on that."

"You don't have to leave," she said. "I'll take him back alone, and then aside from him going missing the krogan will know nothing. They'd probably believe he concocted something to knock them out and escaped on his own. I'll send you your part of the reward and the rest of you will carry on as normal."

Yalo's mind analysed the proposal. It could possibly work. And in a sense, if Haedian was gone, things may take longer and result in a longer period of payment, netting him even more credits in the long run. The only thing getting in the way of these thoughts were his conscience when it came to betraying the others. That, and one other factor.

"If I agree to this, what guarantee do I have that you'll hold up your part of the bargain? How do I know you'll even give me half of the reward at all?"

"What if I gave you a portion of it now?" she put forth. "As a token of good faith."

"But you don't _have_ it yet."

"I have my own funds. I'll give you what I have in exchange for the doctor. When I return to Council Space and claim the reward, I'll send you the rest."

"How much would this portion be?"

"I could give you just over two-hundred thousand right now as a direct transfer. That's slightly under half of what you'll get total, but that's the best I can do."

"And I can trust you to deliver the rest?"

"As much as I can trust _you_ to not tell your friends what happened and send them after me as soon as they wake up. Yes."

There was a fairly long pause from Yalo. His right arm extended out to his side, the shotgun held in it pointing at one of the sleeping scientists. "That one there."

The asari's head turned to observe the salarian, then half-turned back to Yalo.

"Indeed," she answered, then activated her own omni-tool. "Activate yours and I'll give you the money."

Yalo did, and sure enough he received 200,150 credits from her. He looked up to thank her, but she was gone again. Turning his head he noticed her stooped over Doctor Haedian. In one had she had a small device Yalo recognised as a medicine injector, not too dissimilar to those used to apply medi-gel. She pressed it into the salarian's neck, and and after a few seconds of his eyes blinking rapidly he coughed a few times and looked up at her. Confusion mingled with fear adorned his facial features before he asked the obvious question.

"Wh'...who are you?"

"My name is Lylanya," she revealed. "I'm a mercenary and bounty hunter. The Salarian Union are paying me to return you alive and that's what I intend to do."

"I don't care _what_ you are!" Haedian smiled broadly. "Just get me away from these brutes and back to Mannovai. Or any place in Council space will do."

"Can you walk?" the asari asked, helping him to his feet.

"I... I think so," Haedian said, and then he looked up to see Yalo standing there and frowned, his speech patterns suddenly accelerating. "The quarian? What is _he_ doing still conscious? You're not planning on trusting him, are you? He's the one who brought me to these ruffians the _last_ time I tried to escape."

"I'm not going to stop you," Yalo stated flatly. "Not for the cut I'm getting."

"I'd almost swear there was a human under that mask," Haedian mocked, starting to find his feet now with Lylanya's help. "You don't appear to be loyal to anything except credits."

"I'm loyal to my people," Yalo defended. "And that means getting credits... for the moment. I do whatever it is I need to in order to succeed, just like anybody else. It's as simple as that."

"You're willing to betray your krogan allies then... just like that?" Haedian asked.

"If it means I'll save my own kind in the process, yes. I'm loyal to them first and foremost. Anybody else takes a back seat."

"Not that I really care, but those krogan _will_ tear you apart when they find out about this you realise?" the Salarian stated.

"Don't worry. I'll make it look like I was taken out too and that you were taken without my help. As far as they're concerned, you'll have been the one who gassed them all. It wasn't the first time after all."

"We have to hurry, Doctor," Lylanya said impatiently. "The effect of the gas will wear off in only a few minutes."

"What about the others?" asked Haedian. Lylanya shook her head.

"I was only hired to take you back. The others are insignificant and will only hamper your escape."

"But we can't let this continue!" the Salarian protested.

"Then you can tell your government when we get you back to Council space," the asari argued, then tugged on his arm. "Now let's _move_!"

"But they'll have moved on by then, just like after the last escape attempt!" Haedian said, struggling as she pulled him towards the door. "It won't be enough!"

Letting out a loud sigh, Lylanya took another medicine injector from her belt and pressed it to Haedian's neck. After an incoherent objection from the Salarian, his whole body wilted, and she hoisted him over her shoulder.

"That's better," she sighed, looking at Yalo. "It should be easier this way anyway."

"And quieter," the quarian added.

"Indeed," came a rather dry response. "Thank you, quarian. Do not worry... you shall be paid soon. Avoid flaunting your new wealth and your krogan friends should be none the wiser."

And then she was gone almost as quietly as she had left. Sighing and still wondering if he'd made the right decision, Yalo looked around for a good place to fake unconsciousness, deciding the remains of the desk he'd been slammed into with the asari's first attack to be as good as any. There he lay, and waited.

_You were very quick to betray your friends_, he heard a voice chastise in the back of his head. It was Linna's.

"I made a choice," Yalo defended, whispering back to his own mind as he gazed up at the buckled railing above and the rock ceiling beyond. "It wasn't easy, but it was the best one."

_So you abandoned those who took you in and gave you opportunity for the sake of getting there faster?_

"I did what I did for our people. They're more important than this."

_I thought you considered Gonamida and his krogan to be the same? I thought you considered them your brothers, fighting the basic same cause? Both of you helping your people?_

"They do what they need to do to help their people and so do I. If Gonamida or Intarr saw a means to speeding things up by getting rid of me they wouldn't hesitate to do so."

_Do you really know that?_

"Yes. Everybody does what they need to do in order to get what they want. That's just the way things are. Besides, it's not as if the whole situation is a loss."

_We'll see then, won't we?_ Yalo heard as her voice drifted away. Her voice was gone for now, but her words and the doubts and guilt they had brought remained.


	7. Chapter 7

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 7**

Lying in the pile of desk debris felt like an eternity to Yalo, but he'd only been there just over five minutes when he sensed a presence looming above him. He'd heard noises around him, but had been too deep in thought and had pretty much ignored the ambience until now. It was a low and familiar voice that brought him out of his own thoughts and back to the real world, along with a firm kick to his left leg.

"Rise and shine."

Yalo opened his eyes to see Intarr staring down at him with those blood red marbles that shone like droplets of freshly spilled blood. It was never easy to tell with a krogan glaring at you whether he was angry, sad, happy or in any other emotional state. But after spending a few weeks with Intarr, Yalo had learnt that with some careful observation and by noting their body language, one could soon discover that it didn't make things any easier. What Yalo _had_ learned was that a krogan's emotional state was more often determined by the way they spoke to you. Or, failing that, the way they didn't speak at all and then simply attacked you. Seeing as he wasn't being attacked and words had been spoken, Yalo assumed his actions only moments ago were still unknown to the krogan. He still had to remain completely still of course. After all, he'd been "knocked out" by an "escaping" salarian.

"Hey! Get up!"

A far more forceful kick accompanied the second encouragement from Intarr, and that was enough to convince Yalo a false stir would be better presented sooner than later. Groaning, Yalo perched up on one elbow and rubbed the back of his head, despite a preference for rubbing the side of his leg.

"Wha... what happened?" Yalo moaned to Intarr. The krogan snorted.

"You're asking _me_ what happened? I was knocked out cold like the others. I was gonna ask _you_ what happened. Gas couldn't have effected you."

Yalo made another sound of discomfort, then shook his head. He brought one hand up to his visor in a motion as if he had a headache. After a few seconds of this he responded.

"It was... it was Haedian. He came at me... surprised me." A pause and another groan. "He hit me... I fell backwards. And then... nothing."

"The salarian took you down?" Intarr said, brow raised slightly on one side. Yalo noted he sounded very unconvinced.

"He... he did something to... me..." Yalo answered, then remembered something. "He... injected me with... something."

Yalo crawled onto all fours, then looked around the floor amongst the debris and stones. Or at least that's what he made it look like he was doing. Moving behind some broken chunks of desk and still making it look like he was searching, Yalo produced the small vial with the needle he'd stabbed the turian on Palaven with. With a noise of triumph he then held it up to show Intarr.

"This. He... he stabbed me with this."

Intarr took it from the quarian as Yalo carefully got back to his feet. Taking in more of his surroundings, Yalo noticed a few of the other krogan were up and about, either helping others wake up or keeping any freshly woken scientists in check. His attention was soon drawn to another familiar and prominent figure standing directly ahead and above him atop the walkway.

"What happened here?" Gonamida growled, a hollow metallic ring sounding out as one of his meaty fists came down upon the handrail before him, misshaping it significantly in the process. "I want answers! Now!"

"Seems that Palmera's apprentice has been taught well," Intarr called up to his boss loudly. "He somehow gassed us all and escaped. This time without any of the others. All the others are accounted for. There's an ATV missing though."

"We found this," another krogan announced, entering from the entrance. He gave Intarr the object he had referenced.

"What is it?" Gonamida asked. Intarr shrugged, and Yalo could swear the floor shook a little when the krogan's shoulders dropped.

"I have no idea," came the answer, and he held it up for Gonamida to see. The krogan who had brought it in spoke up. "It was in the main ventilator."

"It's a remote gas dispenser," Gonamida explained. "A very specific one too. I've seen them before. It has three chambers which each have a different substance in them. It carefully mixes them to programmed specifications and then releases them when ready. Small and compact, so as not to need much of each substance to work effectively. Instead each one is very concentrated. That way it can be easily hidden and placed into a small area. In the main ventilator it spread the gas throughout the entire place within seconds."

The krogan warlord's attention turned to Yalo. Yalo had expected this, as well as the question that came with it.

"How did this affect you too then, Yalo?"

Yalo didn't even need to answer, as Intarr raised the object that Yalo had given him into the air.

"Haedian stabbed him with this."

"I've seen those too," Gonamida said. "It's probably filled with something that salarian scum _knew_ would effect Yalo without actually harming him. Could even be a liquefied version of the same stuff we were exposed to."

"Considerate of the little bastard," Intarr snorted, eyeing the liquid in the vial. A growl sounded from Gonamida.

"I doubt he'll be so considerate keeping this place a secret though," the older krogan muttered. "Probably thought he'd have a better chance escaping alone rather than organise an entire escape like Palmera did. All he needs to do is to get back to Council space and it'll be all over."

There was a moment of pause from the krogan warlord and then his attention returned to Intarr and Yalo again.

"Intarr. Take Yalo and see if you can chase that salarian down before he can get to the spaceport. He's probably there already or close to it, but you might be able to stop him before he can get anywhere." His attention shifted. "The rest of you... be prepared to have to move out once again. Chances are we'll need to find another base soon."

Gonamida turned around and disappeared back into his office, while the other krogan began to bustle around. Intarr turned back to Yalo, flicking his head in the direction of the exit.

"Come on. We'll have to hurry if we're going to stop that slimy bastard."

Yalo and Intarr found it was still dark outside, with over four hours until sunrise. It was less than ten minutes' drive to the city and they'd been out for about the same amount of time, so if the salarian wasn't already there, he soon would be. They just had to hope that he'd need more than ten minutes to find a ship and get out of there. Or at least Intarr had to hope that; Yalo wasn't quite sure what to hope. Intarr clearly didn't care about finesse when driving, making for an almost straight path towards the city once they'd sidled around the maw pit and only avoiding rocks bigger than their wheels. Yalo was actually worried when approaching some of the larger ones that he might smash his visor against the dashboard or something in the process, bringing his pilgrimage to a premature and rather unsatisfying end.

About halfway there Intarr brought the ATV over a rocky crest to reveal the city lights there before them, just over a kilometre away. Unfortunately the city wasn't the only thing they saw besides rocks and dirt, as something zipped directly overhead their vehicle from beyond the city and towards the way they had come. They only got a brief look at the object, but Yalo had a fair idea what it might be. Intarr did too, instantly spinning the vehicle about-face and kicking up a wave of dust as he tore back to make chase. He and Yalo both knew there was no way they were going to ever catch the airbourne entity, but that didn't deter the krogan from giving the ATV its all to return home. It was something he never expected to see in the Terminus Systems, that was for certain.

Intarr stopped the vehicle about half a kilometre away from the base, parking on the edge of a small mound of dirt-covered rock that sloped away from the scene before them. There was the object that had streaked above them, hovering a few metres above the ground right near the entrance of the krogan base. It appeared to be bluish in colour, but that may just have been the tint of the light reflected from the moon, and was smooth and rounded. It was fairly long and noticeably flat, with a pointed front that branched off into two sweeping flukes that made up the rear. From his research prior to his pilgrimage, Yalo knew the ship was salarian in design, but also knew it was like no vessel he'd ever seen. Beneath it, at the entrance itself, he and Intarr could make out five figures. Intarr growled, leaving the vehicle and going to the rear to retrieve a sniper rifle. Yalo got out too, watching and wondering what the krogan was up to. He half expected him to run to the top of the mound and just start shooting down at them, but was pleasantly relieved when Intarr got down on his stomach, crawled to the edge and simply looked through the weapon's scope.

"Salarians," he grumbled. "Take a look."

Intarr held out the weapon, so Yalo got low and took it from him. Peering through the sight wasn't easy with a sloped visor in the way, but he'd got used to using the weapon thanks to practicing with Intarr, and it didn't take him long to pick out each individual down there. With another having left the ship to join the ones there, there were six salarians, all armed with guns. One in particular seemed more prominent; wearing a bulkier armour than most salarians Yalo had seen and appearing to be directing the others.

"That bitch," Yalo whispered.

"Huh?" Intarr asked.

"I said, 'son of a bitch,'" Yalo lied.

"We could take them out," Intarr said, sounding rather confident. "I should get another rifle, then we can get at least two at once before they even know what hit 'em."

"Are you insane?" Yalo said, lowering the weapon to glance at Intarr. "There's at least six of them... perhaps more. Plus they've got an entire ship. For all we know it has weapons that could level this entire hill."

"Are you suggesting we just watch and wait while they haul Gonamida and the others out of there and just let all we've strived for go to waste?"

"At the moment they don't know we're here. We should keep it that way."

"So we escape while the others all get captured?" Intarr growled. "I'm a fighter, Yalo... not a coward!" A pause. "I'll bet if it was_ your_ people down there you wouldn't just abandon them!"

"Getting caught ourselves isn't going to help them. While we're unknown we're not a problem and we're safe."

Intarr growled again, his attention turning back towards the invading salarian forces. Two of them had disappeared into the main entrance now.

"That conniving bastard must have had this planned out far more than we had thought," Intarr said. "No way a salarian special ops ship could have been here so quick otherwise."

"Indeed," Yalo added dryly, responding only to the latter portion of the krogan's statement. He heard a heavy sigh from Intarr.

"So what do we do then? Just wait until they're all taken away? That doesn't sound like much of a plan."

Yalo paused for a moment; one slender finger tapping the side of the sniper rifle. Eventually he turned to Intarr again and posed a question.

"How much does it take to rouse a Thresher Maw from its nest?"

"I dunno... it depends I guess. I can't honestly say that I've made a point of testing the limits of Maw nest tolerance."

"So if I were to shoot the surface of the nest from here with this, do you think it would pop up?"

"Probably not," Intarr said. "Plus it would give away our position most likely." There was a pause. "But I might have another idea."

Intarr turned around and snuck back to the ATV, heading around to the back of it. After opening it up and a few grunts, Yalo saw him holding a large wheel.

"Good thing I always bring a spare," he smiled. "Now all we need to do is get a good slope with a good angle."

* * *

The scientists left the caverns to the welcome sight of several armed salarians standing with a modest sized ship whirring above them. One of these soldiers was Agent Vaetorals of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. While the other salarians under his command all wore a light armour in a brilliant white, Vaetorals bore a slightly heavier armour in jet black with dark blue trim and grey inset; the Spectre symbol gracing his left breast in contrasting silver. Like the others, his helmet covered his entire head, hiding it from anybody who would wish to glance upon his facial features. While the newly freed slaves marched out into the light cast by the ship above, one of the armed salarians approached Vaetorals, saluting him.

"What do you have to report, lieutenant?" the Spectre asked, arms crossed casually. His voice was slightly slower and deeper than most of his species.

"All but two scientists appear to be accounted for, Captain," the lieutenant answered swiftly. "According to one of the scientists one was killed and the other escaped just recently. As in _ver_yrecently."

"And the krogan?"

"We're not entirely sure how many of them there were all together. We have the one in charge though: Durrlex Gonamida. The scientist I mentioned earlier said that one of them and a quarian left to chase down the escapee and hadn't yet returned."

"A quarian?"

"Yes, sir. Apparently he was working for the krogan for some reason. Wanted the credits to save his people, or something."

"A quarian and a lone krogan aren't enough to concern me, Lieutenant," Vaetorals said, impatience creeping into his voice. "We can't afford to spend any more time than we need to here in the Terminus Systems, and the proximity of this place to the main settlement has us in danger enough as it is without us chasing down stray fugitives. We have the scientists, we have the ringleader and we have most of his men. That's enough. Get them in the ship as quickly as possible so we can get out of here as quickly as possible."

"But sir... what about the scientist who just escaped?" the lieutenant protested.

"You have my orders," Vaetorals stated firmly. "Carry them out."

With a nervous affirmation and a salute, the salarian lieutenant returned to the entrance and disappeared. Shaking his head a little and muttering something inside his helmet, Vaetorals turned around towards the ship, only to pause for a moment to regard something in the distance beyond it. There was something moving out there, slowly coming closer along the ground, but it was too dark to tell what it was. It looked almost as tall as he was, and appeared to be rolling.

"What in the-"

Vaetorals cut himself off as the ground exploded where the mysterious object previously was, sending up a spray of dirt and dust along with a mighty roar. The large airbourne wheel glanced off the right side of the salarian ship then flew over the salarian Spectre's head, forcing him to duck slightly before it bounced off the rocky surface behind him and rolled away harmlessly. Another roar drew Vaetoral's attention back to the cloud of settling dust, and then to the gargantuan creature that loomed out of it.

Four blue eyes stared menacingly at the salarians and their ship, glaring from almost forty metres above the ground. A mostly dusty-brown complexion and with twitching insectoid arms, the wormlike beast's tentacled mouth gaped towards them with a long blue tongue that seemed to glow. The Thresher Maw was a formidable creature indeed, but this was not the first one that this salarian Spectre had dealt with.

"Keep the scientists from harm!" Vaetorals yelled to his men, his shotgun snapping into readiness as he produced it from his back. "Take them back into the cave if you have to... I'll deal with this!"

The frantic movement of his men and the scientists began to draw the attention of the Maw, but Vaetorals soon brought the focus back to him by sending a volley of mass-accelerated projectiles at the beast from the barrel of his weapon. The creature's head drew back with a noise of discomfort, then drew back even more a second time before flicking forwards towards the salarian captain. A ball of swelling emerald acid hurtled from the creatures mouth towards Vaetorals, forcing him to leap and roll to the side. A hissing splash sounded from the rock behind the Spectre, leaving a hole of steam, smoke and melted rock in its place. Vaetorals fired at the creature's face again, but knew that despite its flinching he wasn't doing terribly much damage: the range of his shotgun was too limited, despite its power. While his ship had weapons, they were meant for space combat, and he didn't want to risk using them with his men and the scientists still in such close proximity, not to mention himself. Stealing a quick glance towards the entrance to the base and noting all the scientists were now inside it again, he called out to two of his men who were waiting outside and watching.

"You two! Draw his attention away from me for a moment!"

The two salarians nodded without hesitation, then immediately ran to their left. Vaetorals found himself again having to leap out of the path of another projectile of thick acid spit, but this time didn't fire back. After the two soldiers were about ten metres away from the cavern entrance, they began firing with their light assault rifles at the beast. Roaring and swaying, the Thresher Maw rotated around to face its new attackers, who kept running and firing in bursts. Moving suddenly and then stopping to confirm that the Maw's attention was fully drawn, Vaetorals moved quickly again, compacting his shotgun and slapping it onto his back before making a leap at his ship. His slender fingers grasped onto the front of it and he hoisted himself up onto the nose of the craft. Engaging the magnetic soles on his boots, he deftly ran across the top of the ship and brought shotgun to bear once more. Smirking inside his helmet, he noticed the Thresher Maw was facing in the opposite direction and was only a few metres away now. Now was his chance.

Reversing the magnetism charge on his boots to literally repel him off of it, Agent Vaetorals leapt from the hull of his ship skyward and onto the creature. He landed on the final upper armoured section of the creature's back where its body joined to its head, which was thankfully at a mostly horizontal angle thanks to the way the beast curled up out of the ground. The Thresher Maw's thick armour stopped it from even feeling the Spectre make contact, eliciting no reactions from it. It was another story entirely however when he held the tip of his shotgun right up to the base of its skull and pulled the trigger.

With a tremendous roar, it bucked wildly, throwing Vaetorals into the air once more. The Spectre found himself spinning and then descending back down towards his ship. With a clattering crunch he hit the top of it, thankful that his armour was heavy rather than light, and began to slide across the smooth hull. He managed to gain enough grip to stop himself going over the side, just as his shotgun thwacked against the ship about a metre away and disappeared behind him. Pulling himself up and clamping his magnetic feet back onto the metal surface, he glared up in horror to see the Thresher Maw facing him once again. As it drew it's head back in its familiar pre-splitting motion, Vaetoral's right hand quickly flicked to his belt and spun a small grey disc with blue lights at the monster. The device whirred straight into the upper portion of the creature's mouth then exploded in a fireball, severing the large tentacle on its upper right lip and making it screech in agony. Flames and smoke still pouring from its face, the Thresher Maw threw it's head back, severing and flicking most of it's own elongated azure tongue into the air before finally descending back under the ground with an earthshaking rumble.

Vaetorals sighed with relief, then allowed himself to slide off the side of his ship and into the soft sandy Maw pit below. Collecting his shotgun and shaking the dust and sand from it, he left the edge of the nest to be met by his two assistants. They were about to congratulate the Spectre, but he spoke before they got a chance to say anything.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's get these guys out of here and back home."

* * *

"Wow!" uttered Yalo, moving his face away from the sniper scope for the first time in what seemed like hours. "That's certainly something one doesn't see every day."

"Yeah. Impressive," Intarr agreed, watching the two salarians jog from Vaetorals back to the base entrance through his own scope. "Shame it totally screws up pretty much any chance we had of stopping them."

There was a silence between them, and then Yalo turned his head to look at his krogan ally.

"Maybe... maybe we should have shot at them while they were busy with the Maw," the quarian stated.

Intarr looked at him, not saying a word, then looked back towards the salarians. Eventually he sighed, looking down at the rocky ground before him.

"Dammit," he uttered.


	8. Chapter 8

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 8**

Once again Yalo had found himself at Talan Jol's bar in Tieronus; perched on a familiar barstool he'd once found to be a comfort that now only represented defeat and disenchantment. It was here that he'd found his first real steps to success in his goal, and here he had returned after fate had tossed him away thanks to one bad choice.

Perhaps the voice of his sister within his head had been correct. After all, in betraying Intarr and the others he'd also betrayed himself. But then, it was not the moral nature of his actions that had brought everything crashing down. Other races sometimes believed in the concept of a fate based on choices. Humans, for instance, called it "karma." But Yalo did not believe in such things. What happens in life is determined by the many choices and consequences made by millions of individuals all over the universe, and not by some divine being or some mysterious force trying to set things right or making sure everybody who did a bad deed was going to be punished. Even though he knew he would. And he would accept that. He was counting on his choices, no matter how bad, at least paying off for the quarian people. Where karma would fail to restore them, he would succeed. No matter the cost.

"I hope your friend there doesn't decide to attack the machine," Yalo heard a voice say, followed by a hissing breath. "My hospitality has its limits."

Yalo stopped the flow of purified water he was intaking through the tube in his helmet to turn his head and regard the gruff cursing and yelling coming from a small collection of Quasar machines. He made a noise then turned back to the volus barkeep.

"Maybe if your machines didn't cheat it wouldn't be causing Intarr so much... irritation," Yalo answered dryly.

"My machines don't cheat," Talan Jol defended, his attempts to sound both genuine and hurt less than convincing. Yalo snorted from beyond his tinted visor.

"You can't fool me. I've observed the things closely over time. They're at least twenty five percent less likely to win than a standard machine. The damn fool is wasting his money and we both know it."

There was a loud krogan curse from across the room, followed by the sound of a machine being shaken.

"If you knew that, why didn't you tell him?" the volus asked.

"It's more fun this way," Yalo said dryly, and Talan could hear the smirk. "Besides, consider it Intarr's way of paying for damages."

"Damages?"

"Yeah. Damages to your Quasar machines."

"If he does, you'll both be finding someplace else to call your home away from home," Talan warned.

"Relax, Talan... I'm joking." A pause. "At least that's the intention, I really don't know how mad he'll actually get. He's got a lot of credits still left."

"Perhaps this will placate him." A deep breath. "At least for a while."

The portly little bartender accessed a small holographic interface somewhere beneath the bar and there was a ringing and bleeping sound from Intarr's direction.

"Hey! That's more like it!" the krogan said.

Yalo looked on, thinking back to the events that led them back here. It still puzzled him even now that the krogan had decided to follow him. Puzzled, and made him feel uncomfortable.

* * *

All Yalo and Intarr could do was just lie there on the dusty rock and watch as the salarian invaders rescued the captives and rounded up the krogan responsible. Both knew any attempt at rescue would be be met with less than ideal results, especially given how well the salarian leader had taken care of the Thresher Maw almost single-handedly. It only took the salarians a couple of minutes to get everybody into the ship and then rise up and disappear into the darkness again.

After they were sure the ship had gone, Yalo and Intarr returned to the ATV and headed to the former scene of the crime. Things were pretty much the way they had left it it seemed, though obviously without Intarr's kinsfolk and the servants. None of the debris and damage had been attended to, and the first signs of packing were present. Gonamida's office was also noticeably bare, save for his desk. Yalo had remembered seeing the krogan warlord himself being forced at gunpoint to carry his own computer terminal into the salarian vessel. Some of the physical examples of the scientific research that had previously been intact were also destroyed in what had obviously been swift and brute force Yalo considered ironically more suitable to that of a krogan than a salarian. There weren't really any signs of a struggle, suggesting the krogan had probably been taken by complete surprise or had thought any resistance wasn't worth it.

The only other thing of note that Yalo had discovered was a single pistol hidden amongst some of the debris, which he'd recognised as the asari mercenary's. It was jet black, save for a dark green stripe slashed across the side that angled down the handle of the weapon. Thankfully Intarr had been checking out the scientists' former sleeping quarters at the time, so retrieving the weapon and hiding it from sight was easy. The last thing Yalo wanted Intarr to know was that he had had an indirect hand in what had happened. It was this shame that made things even harder for the quarian when Intarr returned shortly after and spoke to him for the first time since they'd entered the ruins of a once hopeful endeavor for the krogan people.

"I guess this is it then," Intarr sighed heavily. "Gonamida's gone. The scientists are gone. And any chance of the krogan curing the genophage are gone with them."

"I'm sorry, Intarr," Yalo said. The krogan had no idea of the true scope of the quarian's apology, but then Yalo preferred it that way.

"So once again my people are doomed to fade away slowly over time. I'm sick of the salarians and the other Council races getting away with this crap and us being the ones treated like the villains. What Gonamida did here was _nothing_ compared to what they did to us in the first place. We didn't want to take over the galaxy. We didn't even want revenge. We just wanted to set things right again. We just wanted to _live_ again for the first time in years."

Intarr looked at a half-packed crate.

"And it was all brought crashing down because of some smart-mouthed salarian who couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut!"

Intarr kicked the crate as if it were a salarian's face, sending it and its contents flying effortlessly into a rocky wall and splintering into dozens of pieces.

"Life isn't fair," the krogan growled, surveying his victim's scattered remains.

"You're wrong," Yalo answered simply. "Life _is_ fair. And that's the problem."

Intarr looked up at the quarian, the mix of sorrow and anger upon his rough features shifting to confusion. Yalo dropped the piece of desk he'd been holding and walked over to the krogan.

"The problem is people believe that life judges them," he began to explain. "There isn't some divine being or force out there that evaluates and judges you and your actions and determines whether you are worthy of blessings or curses. There's no balance to things, and there's no universal rule that the good prevail and the evil are stopped. Because there is no good and no evil, just choices and consequences. Everybody does what they believe they must in order to prosper in the manner they wish to prosper. Success or failure is not determined by the morality of the means they use to get there."

"How does that make life fair?" Intarr asked.

"Because life isn't biased," Yalo said matter-of-factly. "Life doesn't pick and choose how it deals out fate. You have just as much a chance of having something good or bad happen to you as the next person, be they krogan or salarian, Spectre or criminal. Life is fair because everybody gets the same odds as everybody else. Fate doesn't pick sides... only moments and places."

Yalo turned away, looking back at the remains of once was. He didn't see the smile form on the krogan's face.

"So, what road lies ahead for you now, Intarr?"

"Funny. I was going to ask you the same thing," the krogan said.

"I'll probably hunt up some mercenary work, just like I did before I found you," Yalo answered. "I need to find some way to get credits, and time is not my ally."

"Good. Because I want to go with you."

Yalo was honestly shocked by the statement Intarr had made. He slowly turned to regard the krogan.

"You... you_ what_?"

"I want to go with you," Intarr repeated. "I've got nothing here, and nowhere else to go at the moment. And aside from that, I feel like I owe you somehow."

"Owe me?" Yalo was flabbergasted.

"I'm not sure exactly why. I mean... I don't trust many people out there. Gonamida was one of the few. But I feel I can trust you. You tried to help me and my people, even though you didn't really have to. It seems only right now that that's no longer possible to at least try to help you help yours."

Yalo's stomach twisted and convulsed. He was half expecting Intarr to point at it physically squirming and comment it felt so bad. Intarr trusted him? He had, of course, already betrayed that trust before he knew it was truly even there, but the krogan didn't know that. If he had, then he wouldn't be saying this now. How could he allow Intarr to come along with him knowing how much he betrayed him before? He already felt bad enough, and having Intarr there all the time would just remind him of what he'd done. Was it fair to Intarr to pretend none of this was his doing? How could he look the krogan in the eye like this?

_Yes, you must_, a voice said from within. It was not Linna's, but his own. And yet, also not his own. There was something darker about it. Something sinister. And yet, he didn't shut the voice out.

_He would be useful. He can help you attain your goals. You must use every resource you can. He is no different. It's not as if you're going to hurt him, and telling him the truth would serve no purpose. Besides... what is one krogan compared to the entire quarian race anyway? You know you must do whatever you can to get what you want, just like everybody else._

"Sure. You can come," Yalo said eventually. In truth it was only a few seconds, but it had seemed longer. "I could use the help."

So despite his guilt, Yalo allowed the krogan he had betrayed to continue to travel with him. The salarians had thankfully come and gone so quickly and acted so purposefully that they had completely ignored Gonamida's ship that was still docked in the main city's spaceport. Perhaps it was because they didn't consider it important or didn't know about it, but Yalo suspected it had more to do with the fact that the salarians were acting outside their station and had no jurisdiction in the Terminus Systems, so going to get the ship would be a very bold move that could backfire in so many ways. The main point was since it was there, so was Yalo's shuttle within. Yalo didn't have the need for such a big cumbersome vessel, and selling it off could provide a good amount of additional credits. Once he and Intarr had gone over the ship from stem to stern to find anything of value that may still be left, the ship was sold to the very batarian who owned the hangar it was in, and they flew to Tieronus.

* * *

That was almost week ago, and nothing work-wise had come up since. The only thing that had come up since leaving Bersilius was a question from Intarr kept asking Yalo. It was a question he wasn't quite ready to answer yet, and yet the krogan still insisted on bringing up the subject at least once a day.

"So, how exactly _are_ you going to save your people?"

And there it was again as Intarr sat there with him at the bar, drinking something from a large mug that looked more like something that should leave the body rather than enter it. The krogan had decided to quit playing Quasar while he was ahead. Or at least while he wasn't quite as behind as he was five minutes ago. Yalo once again answered as he had the last half a dozen times.

"I'll tell you when I feel the time is right. I'm taking things one step at a time, and I haven't even completed the first one yet."

"Which is to get a lot of credits," Intarr said followed up with a deep echoing burp. "I have to wonder exactly how much you need. Sounds to me like whatever it is, it's expensive."

"I don't even know if I'll ever get enough," Yalo said with a sigh. "How's that for 'expensive?'"

"In the end you're still just one person," Intarr said. "And even the best of us can't make a whole heap of credits alone in a short amount of time. Perhaps you're going about things the wrong way."

"Oh?"

"Perhaps what you need isn't money, but power or information that can get you stuff that only a great deal of money otherwise can," Intarr explained.

"It's funny you should say that," Yalo said.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"If we make it that far, you'll see," the quarian stated.

There was a brief moment of silence. The whole place was quiet in fact, since it was pretty late there now and most locals were at home. Aside from a couple of turians and one human sitting at some tables out of earshot, Yalo, Intarr and Talan were the only ones in the bar. It was a simple little establishment, with the main bar in the centre and the quasar machines set up to the left of it and some tables and chairs on the right, all bathed in the bright lights of deep blue and pinkish red that adorned most bars. Music played from a jukebox, but there was no real room to dance, and of course a large holographic screen above the main bar displayed the news and any other information patrons may find interesting directly from the network. Intarr gulped back some more drink and spoke.

"It's a shame we can't just capture that stupid scientist Haedian again and get an even _larger_ amount of money than they were offering the first time. That'd get us some credits."

Something clicked in Yalo's mind, and he looked sideways at Intarr.

"Perhaps we can," Yalo said with a voice more confident than it had been in a long time. "You never found out exactly what Haedian was working on?"

"Nope."

"But it was important... we know that much. Important enough for a sizable reward and for a squad of salarians led by a Spectre to enter the Terminus Systems for. If they were caught they'd be risking galactic war."

"But they didn't even get Haedian. He was already gone."

"We both know it was all linked," Yalo said. "Haedian was rescued too, he just made sure the others were as well and that your people were stopped. The point is, he's important and we know where he is."

"Yeah. Somewhere on Mannovai, deep in salarian territory. Probably in a very secured facility that's even more secure now. We only got him in the first place because we nabbed him a night while he was asleep in his own home, and even then we were caught on a security camera. We won't get that chance again, and there's no way they'll let any krogan anywhere near the place now."

"I'll think of something," Yalo said, standing up from the barstool. "It's a start, and you were right... I'm going about this the wrong way. No amount of mercenary jobs is going to get me what I need. Things must be taken to a whole new level." A pause. "And speaking of sleep, that sounds like a good idea. I think I may actually get a good one tonight for once. I've finally got an idea of where to go from here."

Thanking Talan Jol, Yalo began to head towards the staircase that led to the rooms upstairs. Intarr called out to the quarian from the bar before he could disappear.

"So you _are_ going to tell me how you plan to save your people eventually, right?"

"I'll tell you when I feel the time is right," Yalo called back. "I'm taking things one step at a time, and the end of step one is only just on the horizon."

* * *

Before Yalo even entered his room, he sensed something was wrong. He wasn't sure what it was, just some kind of feeling or presence. Drawing his pistol slowly, he approached the door. Waiting for a moment and listening, he pointed his weapon squarely at the centre of the door; holding it in his right hand while he worked the access panel with his left. The door slid across with a whoosh, and Yalo's suspicions were confirmed, for there stood a lone figure in the darkness, backlit by the modest window that looked out onto the street below. The room itself was rather small, with the only other features besides the window being a simple bed on the left as you entered, a set of bedside drawers, a closet and a storage container. The only other thing in the room at the moment was the trespasser.

"Don't move!" the quarian warned. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The intruder was tall and female, wearing clothing that hugged her slender figure all the way from the neck down, leaving only her head exposed. While this attire appeared very dark, light gleamed and reflected from it in places without hesitation, suggesting a smooth, hard substance rather than any fabric. She seemed in no way threatened or influenced by Yalo's actions, merely standing there and gazing out through the glass, her arms clasped at the small of her back. The back of her head was not hair, but folds of skin which curved together like a delicate blue rose in that stage between bud and flower. Eventually she turned her head to the side, looking back at Yalo over her shoulder with one eye, and while he did not recognise her face, when she finally spoke he did know her voice.

"You are a resourceful individual, Yalo'Pala nar Lerta, but you don't keep your room very secure."

"You!" Yalo hissed.

Briefly slamming his left hand upon the light panel on the inside wall, Yalo strode towards her with determined purpose. She turned around full just in time for his left forearm to slam into her throat and push her back until she was up against the wall and window. Yalo's gun rose into her vision, mere millimetres away from her left eye. Yalo finally got a look at the face that had been hidden from him in their previous encounter.

Some asari were a very deep blue with a hint of purple, while others were a lighter, almost green colour, and some were in-between. She was the former, though her face was a lighter blue than the back of her head. Above her lips of deep purple was a tall, slim nose, framed by high cheekbones. Like many asari she had lighter markings and stripes upon her face, the most prominent ones surrounding her eyes and upon her forehead. The most notable thing was her eyes though, which seemed so bright and blue that they didn't seem real. It was like staring into the centre of a mass relay or two orbs of concentrated biotic energy, and Yalo could swear they were almost shimmering and glowing.

The look of shock upon her features didn't last long, her violet lips curling up into a smile. That was enough to let Yalo feel less at ease and less in control.

"Come now, Yalo," she said, her voice becoming smooth and innocent, with a playful inflection. "I thought that we were on good terms. I thought we made a good team and worked well together."

She licked her upper lip, her eyes looking and voice became sultry. "_Very_ well together," she breathed.

He felt one of her legs starting to move up between his own, stroking up the side of his inner thigh. Her tongue reached out towards his helmet, making contact with it right where the speech light was located. Yalo twitched uncomfortably, and that was all it took. In a flash her face disappeared, Yalo found his helmet hitting the wall just to the right of the window and his body being pressed up against it. His arms were being squeezed into his own back, and his weapon fell from his hands. He heard the pistol sliding away from him across the floor, just as the asari's face appeared from over his shoulder out the corner of his right eye, her visage a victorious smirk.

"Sorry," she said. "But I prefer to be the one in control. Hope you don't mind?"

After a brief but pointless struggle, Yalo made a grumbling noise. "What do you want, Lylanya?"

"I came to see you, of course" the asari responded. "I have something for you. And I see you had something for me too"

She held something up for him to see. It was her pistol, unmistakable in its colour and design. She must have taken it from the drawer beside his bed, making Yalo wonder what else she'd found or taken.

"Thanks for holding on to this for me. I forgot all about it, what with the rush to get out and all."

"You sold us out!" Yalo accused, ignoring the subject she'd brought up. Lylanya laughed.

"And why wouldn't I? I'm a mercenary after all. Getting Doctor Haedian back to the salarian people was a nice enough little package, but why stop there when I can sell the information of the whereabouts of the rest of them and bring down a bunch of krogan criminals forcing them to cure the genophage? Information like that is worth a lot of money to the right people. I have to admit though, I didn't expect you and your friend to escape. I guess the salarian strike team were a little slower than I had anticipated. Their loss I suppose."

"Why do _you_ care?" Yalo grumbled. "Come to take me in too? Or are you here to simply get back your credits from me?"

"On the contrary, my dear quarian," Lylanya said, and Yalo felt her release the pressure on him. "I came to give you the rest of what I owed you."

Now free from being sandwiched between an asari and a wall, Yalo turned around to look at her properly. She must have known the look of confusion and scepticism on his face even if she couldn't see it.

"You're kidding, right?" An awkward laugh followed. "You're meaning to tell me that after you betrayed me and left me to be captured and damned to who knows _what_ fate that you tracked me down and broke into my room just so you could give me some credits?"

"Don't sound so shocked," she said, rolling her eyes and spinning around. "You betrayed that krogan you're with and he doesn't even know it! If he did, there's no way he'd still be with you. Don't justify your petty moral values to me."

So confident was she that he wouldn't try to attack her again that she turned her back to him. That, or confident in her ability to stop him if he did. Even her gun was clipped to the holster on her thigh rather than in her hand any more. Yalo didn't know whether to be impressed or insulted.

"That may be why you came, but it can't be the _only_ reason. Why would a hardened mercenary out for credits be so willing to give them up when she doesn't have to? Why would she bother to track me down without getting something in return?"

"Maybe I just feel an obligation due to our deal?"

Yalo laughed. "I find that hard to believe. You'll set me up to be captured, and yet there's a side of honourable goodness to you too, is that it? Some kind of strange 'Honour Amongst Mercs' thing or something?"

"Okay, perhaps there is something more," Lylanya answered, turning back to face Yalo. "Perhaps I'm simply curious."

"Curious? About what?"

"Lots of things. Perhaps I'm wondering why a lone quarian decided to join up with a bunch of krogan mercs? Perhaps I'm wondering exactly why you are willing to betray so easily for the promise of credits?" A pause. "And perhaps I'm wondering how a seemingly naive young quarian who has barely left The Migrant Fleet managed to track down and infiltrate somebody far quicker than _I_ could?"

"Oh, I'm sorry... did I bruise your ego?" Yalo sneered.

"Of course you did!" Lylanya snapped, arms flicking into the air briefly. "I've been doing my job for almost a hundred years, and you've not even been _alive_ for a quarter of that. How could that _not_ bruise my ego?"

"Maybe I got lucky," Yalo answered. "But I don't really care about your curiosity, and my reasons for doing what I did are my own."

"I came all this way willing to give you your fair share when I could have just ignored this and kept on with my life," Lylanya said firmly, crossing her arms roughly. "The least you can do is _indulge_ me a little."

"I told you that my reasons are my own. If that's not enough for you, then you can keep the credits for all I care."

Lylanya's jaw dropped slightly and her eyes seemed to grow twice as large. "You're kidding? You'd be willing to just refuse three-hundred _thousand_ credits simply because you don't want to answer a few simple questions?"

"Yes. The answers aren't for you to know. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep, and you're still here." A pause. "_Annoying_ me."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," she answered with a laugh. "You're not the only one who can be frustratingly stubborn, you know."

"Why do you even care so much?" Yalo sighed, the frustration clearly present now. "You're a mercenary... there's no credits in it for you."

"Oh, of course!" Lylanya replied sarcastically, her eyes rolling as she started to pace back and forth between the door behind her and the foot of Yalo's bed to her left. "I'm just a mercenary. All I care about is credits, fighting and how to outwit people. I can't have interests in anything else. I can't simply be _curious_ about something... enjoy a little mystery here and there." A pause. "I'll bet your the same. _You _became a merc just for the credits and the challenge. I'm sure you have no motives at all beyond the lifestyle of it. It's all just about the money and the danger."

"Okay, I get the point," Yalo said. "I just think it's kind of... _odd_ you'd be interested in my personal affairs."

"You're an anomaly, Yalo," she said with a tone that sounded more genuine than anything he'd heard from her before. "There's something about you that I can't describe, and I can't help be drawn in. I have a curious nature, and I can tell that there's more to this than there seems. There are things going on inside your head... cogs and gears turning and grinding. You've got something up there simmering away that you've told _nobody_."

"Even if that's true, if I haven't told anybody else, why would I tell you?"

"Because I suspect you need all the help you can get," she smiled, perching herself on the end of Yalo's bed. She leaned her elbows upon her own lap, her hands clasped into a ball at her chin. "You agreed to take the krogan with you because you knew you might be able to use him, and even if you haven't earned his trust, you have it."

"For somebody who seems to want to know more about me, you already seem to _think_ you know a lot already," Yalo said. She smiled.

"I'll tell you what I _do_ know. I know that you only left your fleet a few months ago at the most and are on some kind of quest to save your people. I know you took on mercenary work because it pays well and somehow managed to track down where the krogan had taken the kidnapped scientists. I know that you were hired by them because they felt they could use your skills and that you shared a somewhat common goal. And I know that despite this connection you were willing to betray them for your own needs because you consider them to be more important." Lylanya paused for a moment and her grin grew. "And I know that salarians have big mouths. Which doesn't have much to do with you beyond the fact that Doctor Haedian pretty told me all of that while we were flying back to Citadel Space."

"And you want to help me just because you're curious and feel like giving me a hand?" the quarian asked.

"Aside from the fact I simply can't stand _not_ knowing things that intrigue me, I suspect there could be a lot of credits in this too somehow," the asari answered. "From what I can gather, you've already made more in the short time you've been at this than most professionals would make in a _year_. I know that the more help you get, the less credits there are for whatever you need them for. But I think I can provide you some skills and opportunities that could be very useful."

"Speaking of that, there's something about you that intrigues me too," Yalo said. "And since you know so much about me already, I think it's only fair I at least get something from _you_ in return."

"You have a question? Go ahead then."

"That neat little trick you pulled back in the krogan base... where you were there, but you weren't. How did you do that?"

Lylanya chuckled, shifting her position to leaning back on the bed casually with her arms angled back to support her. She crossed her legs, letting the top one swing and bounce a little as she explained.

"A rather neat little device tied into my biotics actually. One of the benefits I got from a job I did a little while ago. It's an experimental device, which I not only get to use for my own benefits, but am also actually field testing at the moment for additional credits. Like I said... experimental. Now, I can't actually say who _made_ it or tell you any specifics as to how it works of course, but the basic functionality is that it uses biotic energy to bend light, making whoever uses it appear not exactly where they really are. While it can't actually make me invisible, I can adjust it so that my image is in a position an observer wouldn't be able to see. For example, when I was sneaking around the krogan base the _first_ time, the reason nobody saw me was because I carefully projected my image beyond the walls of the caves. It has a limited range too, at least so far, but that was okay for small, tight spaces like those caves."

"Impressive," Yalo said. "Any other limitations?"

"Well, you already saw that it didn't take long before the effect wore off. That's actually more of a weakness of the biotic implants than the device itself though. It's hard to maintain for too long, and although it doesn't take long to recharge it, you'd still be left vulnerable and possibly discovered for a few moments. Other than that, I guess if somebody saw your image clipping through something it could give it away. Even the slightest thing like the ground rising a bit around you could give it away to the careful observer. It's also currently limited to purely horizontal image projection, though that's mostly for ease of use, since controlling it in two dimensions is fairly simply, but three would be rather hard. Lighting can give it away too. Oh, and if you _do_ shift your image to the other side of a wall or other solid object, it's best you're sure what's beyond it. I was lucky in the caves because I knew there was only solid rock there. In a building or something... not quite as easy. The main hitch is actually getting used to interacting with the fact you're not really there and adjusting appropriately."

"So, are you going to milk it for what its worth and then sell it off to a rival company or something?" Yalo said. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious.

"Perhaps... if circumstances were different. But the, how shall I put this... _affiliate_ who created this device is a steady employer. They provide me with plenty of credits and work. Something I'd prefer not to mess up."

"Then perhaps it's best if you go and help them and let me be on my way," Yalo said, walking closer and indicating the door. Lylanya frowned.

"That's hardly fair. After I told you all that you're _still_ just willing to throw me out and be on your way without my help? I don't offer my services easily, you know."

"Or cheaply, I'll bet." Yalo scoffed. "Sorry, I can't afford to have anybody else draining the profits. Beyond that, how would I know that could I trust you?"

"I don't trust you either. But I'm willing to help you on this. Whatever it is you have planned."

A smile returned to her face, and she bit her bottom lip. Sensuality returned to her eyes.

"Perhaps there is another way I can convince you," she said. She extended one foot out to brush it slowly up Yalo's right leg. "I can be very, _very_ convincing."

Yalo took a step back and crossed his arms. He was thankful, once again, that his helmet hid the look that must have been on his face. He had heard about the asari and how much of an effect they could have on almost any species out there. It was said that nobody could resist the charms of an expert asari seductress, and he was starting to discover why. Upon first reading about them while still with The Flotilla he figured they may have released a special pheromone that assaulted without bias, but he was completely sealed away from any external influences of that nature in his suit, and Lylanya's allure was undeniable. She was beautiful and graceful, there was no question, despite being a different species, but there was something enigmatic beyond that, and Yalo had to resist it. He couldn't let things like that get in the way of what he had to accomplish. That, and there was Elli back with the fleet. He could do a lot of things that would make her hate him. In fact, he definitely _would_ do things that would make her hate him. He couldn't betray her. At least not like that. He still loved her, and that wasn't going to change.

"Sorry," Yalo said. "But you're wasting your time there. And even if I _was_ interested, you and I both know that I'm not exactly in a position to be taking off my clothing."

"A pity," she said. "It would be one hell of a way to go out though. Perhaps you don't know the asari as much as you think though..."

She stood up from the bed and slunk up to him. With a smile she continued, looking at his darkened visor as if to try and peer right past it.

"You see, we can meld with others. And this melding can be an incredibly... _enjoyable_ experience." She paused and began tracing her finger across his chest. "Even a quarian like yourself could experience the full force of an asari meld without leaving the safety of their suit. I could take you to an existence of pleasure unlike _anything_ you could imagine."

Her hands began to move up towards his helmet until her fingertips caressed either side of it. "All you need to do is open your mind to me."

Yalo grabbed her wrists sharply with both hands. She jumped at this and looked hurt, but Yalo simply guided them away from his helmet and let go.

"I told you, you're wasting your time. I don't need some arrogant asari bitch trying to manipulate me."

She gave him a scowl, her face no longer as beautiful as it seemed a few moments ago. The expression shifted into one of curiosity though. "What about an arrogant asari bitch who can manipulate _others_?"

Yalo thought about it for a moment. She was talented in that respect, he gave her that. Then a thought occurred.

"You took Doctor Haedian back to Mannovai, correct?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"That must have been a fairly long trip. Did you ever try to... _manipulate_ him?"

"No. I had no need to. And aside from the fact that it could have interfered with my work, salarians are one of the hardest species to seduce anyway."

"So, you don't know what project he was working on for the Salarian Union?"

Lylanya crossed her arms, raising one brow with a smirk on her face. "That depends... if I answer, will you take me with you?"

"That depends on your answer," Yalo countered.

"I can't tell you _exactly_ what he was working on, but he was working on something to do with colonisation or something. Some kind of research into something that will help the salarians colonise planets quicker. Beyond that, I know nothing."

"He told you this?" Yalo asked.

"Not exactly. He said a lot of different things on the way back, and I just added them up to draw my own conclusions. Just little comments now and then were enough to get a basic picture of that much at least."

"If Haedian is one of the foremost salarian experts on genetics, why is he working on some kind of project that's to do with colonising planets, I wonder?" Yalo thought aloud, walking over to the window to stare out.

"Sounds like you've got quite an interest in the doctor," he heard Lylanya say. "You want to talk to him again, don't you? You want to find out what he's working on for some reason. Credits no doubt factor in." There was period of quiet before she added "I could get you to him."

Yalo's attention was drawn to her like a magnet to iron. He didn't even need to say anything as she continued without prompting.

"I can get us to Mannovai without problems, and from there we should be able to find wherever The Union has him working. We sneak in and you can get Haedian or whatever you want from him."

"You make it sound so simple," Yalo dismissed. "It won't be. You realise how tight their security will be, right? And that's assuming we can even _find_ the place."

"I think the two of us, and that krogan, will be able to pull it off. I must admit, I do wonder why Haedian and his work is so fascinating to you beyond the mere mystery of it all."

"You'll find out soon enough, now that you're helping me," Yalo said. "And don't worry, there'll be plenty of credits in this. If all goes well, you'll find out everything you wanted to in time. But for now, I need some sleep."

"Of course," Lylanya smiled with a curt nod. "When would you like to meet again?"

"In about nine hours or so at the bar downstairs, if that's okay?"

"I will be there," she answered, then made her way towards the exit. She stopped less than a metre away from the door and looked over her shoulder at Yalo. "What are you going to tell the krogan?"

"I'll just tell him you're an old friend," Yalo stated. "One of the many mercs I worked with before I hooked up with him and the other krogan."

"A good enough excuse," she said. "I will remember to keep up the charade while we are in his company."

She disappeared from his sight and he sighed, closing the door and then stooping to retrieve his pistol from the floor. Wandering over to his bed, he plonked down onto it and lay there, staring at the ceiling. Things had just taken a very interesting and unexpected turn. He was taking a big risk by letting her join him, and he had a feeling that her presence was either going to be something that helped him immensely or something that would come to utterly destroy his plans entirely. He didn't know why, he just sensed that where Lylanya was concerned, there was going to be no in-between.


	9. Chapter 9

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 9**

Intarr wasn't sure how to take it when he saw a beautiful asari sit on the barstool beside him and automatically order a drink for him. He wasn't particularly lucky in the past when it came to women, krogan or asari, and had usually just ignored the issue of love, be it emotional or simply physical. Instead he chose to just focus on his work most of the time, and it was an attitude that had served him well. At the moment though, work wasn't exactly much of a factor, even if Yalo had some idea of what to do next, even if he himself wasn't entirely sure what it was. His drink arrived and he observed her again. The asari smiled at him, rising a more elegant glass filled with some bright pink liquid into the air before it met her lips. He looked at his drink, then at Talan Jol's assistant behind the bar; another volus who was tending bar while his boss slept.

"I didn't know you guys had your own whores," he stated. The asari laughed.

"Oh come now, that's a little unfair," she said, swiveling around on her stool to face him. "I mean, I've been with a lot of different people, but I think _whore_ is going a little too far. I prefer the term 'amorist' myself."

"Oh, I'm... I'm sorry," Intarr stammered. "I-I-I didn't mean... that is... I was just wondering why you were buying me a drink?"

"Because _you_," she gave him a slight poke on the chest, "are the krogan Intarr. And _you_," another poke, "know a good friend of mine who I'm here to see."

"This friend of yours wouldn't be a quarian now, would he?" Intarr asked, glancing at her sideways.

"Yes he would," Lylanya responded, raising her glass a little again. "My name is Lylanya. But before I meet up with him, I'd like to know more about you."

"Okay... I guess," Intarr said with a shrug. "What do you want to know?"

"What do you know about him?" she asked.

Intarr chuckled a little, then downed a mouthful of drink.

"Not much, really. A quarian on his pilgrimage involving some quest to save his people that he's told me nothing else about."

"So he hasn't told you how he's going to do it either," she said, more to herself than him.

Lylanya's eyes drifted away from the krogan in thought as her right index finger twirled around the top of her glass. Intarr recognised the black asari mercenary armour she was wearing; he'd seen asari mercs before throughout his travels.

"So how do you know Yalo?" Intarr queried. "You guys do a bit of work together before he came after me?"

"Something like that," she replied, and then a devious smile briefly crossed her lips that Intarr missed as he took another quaff. "We met up while working for opposite sides actually. There was a scuffle where neither of us really won and we ended up coming to a compromise in the end. I think we both kind of grew to respect each other somewhat during that little incident. And now, here I am."

"Come to pay him a visit?"

"More than that. I've come to help both of you."

Intarr snorted. "Great. Credits split _three_ ways now." A pause. "And what are you helping with exactly?"

"I'm supposed to help you track down a salarian doctor. I can get you to Mannovai without problems. The rest will depend on exactly what Yalo has planned of course... I'm not even entirely sure what he wants the doctor for."

"I know what _I'd_ like to do with him!" Intarr growled. "I'd ram my fist up 'im and rip off his bulbous salarian head from the inside out!"

"Charming," Lylanya said with a forced smile. "Unfortunately for you, I'm guessing Yalo will probably be wanting him alive."

"I wasn't planning on him already being dead when I did it," Intarr stated firmly. Lylanya made a face.

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs drew the attention of the two new acquaintances, and Yalo found himself stopping mid-step as he saw them; one footfall away from making it to ground floor.

"Oh. I see you two have met each other," the quarian stated. His voice wasn't quite as confident as he had hoped.

"I'd say she's as beautiful as you'd said she was, but you never mentioned her," Intarr said with a grin.

"And _I'd_ say I'm as beautiful as you said I was," Lylanya said playfully. "But we all know words can't do my beauty justice."

"I take it since you told Lylanya to meet us here that you have some kind of plan?" Intarr asked.

"Sort of. It depends on circumstances though. I can tell you both about it on the way if you like?"

"Sure. My ship or yours?" Lylanya asked.

"I don't know. Which would you prefer?"

"Mine. There's more room, and it's probably faster than yours anyway."

"Yours it is then," Yalo agreed.

"Does this plan involve killing that bastard?" Intarr queried.

"I'm afraid not," Yalo responded.

"Not even a little?"

"Sorry."

Yalo walked over to the others and pulled up his omni-tool, manipulating it briefly and adding an orange glow to the sapphire and rose colours that usually dominated the room. He looked at the volus behind the bar.

"I've transferred the credits for the last week into Talan's account," Yalo said. "Give him my regards, we may be back soon. We may not."

"I'll pass on the message," the volus said. He breathed deeply. "Good luck."

"Well, while we're at it, maybe I should transfer those credits I owe you, hmmmm?"

Yalo made a face at Lylanya's comment, thankfully hidden. She didn't even wait for an answer, activating her own omni-tool and setting up the link at her end. He couldn't believe that she was going to transfer it when Intarr was standing right there. She was purposefully trying to get to him, she must have been. He half-expected Intarr to ask about the payment, but then realised that they'd probably been talking for a while before he even arrived. This made him even more uneasy. What had she said in that time? She was giving him a look that said "hurry up" so he brought his omti-tool back online.

"There. As promised," she said, an innocent smile on her lips that Yalo knew wasn't. "Shall we go then?"

"Ladies first," Yalo said with a polite gesture.

"As it should be," Lylanya said, striding ahead towards the exit; her gait strong, confident and feminine. Intarr left his stool, stopping by Yalo briefly before following the asari.

"That one probably melds with her own mirror," he whispered gruffly. Yalo couldn't tell from the way he spoke if he was joking or not.

* * *

Lylanya introduced her ship as _Karina_, which while not huge was at least twice the size of Yalo's little shuttle. It was asari in design, its surface comprised of shiny silver and steel-blue panels broken up by curved recesses, like a smooth, symmetrical puzzle. At the rear were two thin wings that curved back from the sides of the ship, but were flat all the way along the back of the craft, save for an oval hole in the centre where the engine could be seen. While these wings were flat along the underside, on top they curved up towards the centre slightly, then suddenly angled steeper to form a vertical tail as tall as each wing was wide. While flat at the back of the ship like the wings, the the tail sloped down towards the front of the vessel, where a fairly large windscreen curved down event further to the nose. About halfway along the left side of _Karina_ was a door; the only one on the ship.

Lylanya opened the door with her omni-tool, stepping up into the craft to enter it. Without any invitation, Yalo and Intarr went inside too. After passing through the small decontamination chamber, the section of the ship they entered was dark and rectangular, with shiny charcoal coloured panels and seats on either side, lit only by a neon blue strip down the centre of the ceiling. Several lockers adorned the wall heading towards the main cockpit, framing a single door that no doubt led there. At the other end were three doors, which Lylanya explained led to the cargo hold, engine room and her sleeping quarters from left to right respectively. Going through the door heading to the front of the craft they found a small section that consisted of a table and chairs on the left side and a small area for food preparation and cooking on the right. It was slightly brighter than the first room, but not by much. They went through another door heading even further to the front of the ship which led them to the cockpit. It probably would have been dark in here too, but morning light was streaming through the large windscreen and lighting up the dark surfaces. Two comfortable seats lay before the currently dormant main control panels at the very forepart of the ship, with some more chairs along either side of the outer walls behind them.

Lylanya brought the main controls to life, adding artificial beams of saffron to the room to join the already natural ones. Taking the seat on the right, her hands waved and motioned across the glowing panels, bringing further life to the ship, particularly in the case of the resounding hum now emanating from the rear of the vessel. She glanced over her shoulder at the others as the entire ship seemed to waken from a deep slumber.

"I suggest you boys sit down and strap in," she said. "After all, I don't want krogan dents in my ship."

Intarr just grunted, lumbering towards the set of seats located behind Lylanya and dropping into them. Yalo sat to Lylanya's left, appreciating the comfort and support that her chair had that his own shuttle lacked. She seemed to notice.

"Hey, if you're going to sit and fly for hours on end, you might as well be comfortable."

"On the flotilla we have to make do with what we've got," Yalo stated. "We don't have the resources to waste on or care about unnecessary comforts."

"A pity," Lylanya said. "Comfort makes rough living all the easier."

"We'll just have to wait for the asari to go to war so we can harvest some of these from your crippled ships I guess," came Yalo's response. Lylanya simply countered with a face unbecoming her age.

Blue sky soon became grey mist, then a deep blue fading into speckled black. Lylanya made some final adjustments and then leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

"We're still almost an hour from the mass relay," the asari informed. "Now's as good a time as any to tell us what you have planned."

"Well, I basically need you to deliver a package," Yalo stated. "One addressed to Haedian."

"Let me guess, it asks him really nicely to just come talk with us?" Intarr rumbled from behind the others.

"No, we use it to track him," Yalo explained. "We don't know exactly where he is, since he'll be no doubt somewhere secret, but it will show us."

"You _do_ realise that any tracking devices will no doubt be scanned and detected by security, right?" Lylanya said. "And the best security that the salarians have to offer at that."

"I never said the package would contain a tracking device," Yalo noted. "Or, at least not a standard one."

Yalo produced a datapad and handed it to Lylanya. "_That's_ what we send him."

"The salarians will scan and read this before letting it into a secure facility," the asari noted.

"That's fine. The datapad is seemingly harmless," Yalo said. "Go ahead, read it."

Lylanya did. "To Doctor Haedian. I represent Westerlund News and we are interested in doing a story on your ordeal with the krogan. We would very much appreciate it if you would be able to give us an exclusive interview in the near future if possible. We were informed that it would not be easy to get hold of you through standard communication methods, so we decided to send you this datapad instead. Please contact us as soon as possible if you're interested. Contact details follow."

She looked up at Yalo. "It could do with some cleaning up, but it could work."

"Writing letters has never been my strong point," Yalo admitted.

"Don't worry, I can embellish it for you... make it seem more genuine," Lylanya said, her eyes scanning over it again.

"Don't forget to kiss his ass a lot," Intarr suggested. "He'd like that."

"Of course," Lylanya said dryly. Her attention returned to Yalo. "But how does this help us?"

"It's simple. When he inputs that contact data into any computer terminal in the facility it will send a small virus that will spread to all computers in their network. This virus will be dormant until data is sent outside the network, after which it will go dormant again to avoid detection. During that brief moment where it's active, any message or data send outside the network will be accompanied by a small tracer that we can use to track his location. This will appear as just a small blip of additional data on the end of the message, but with a very specific frequency in a specific pattern. We'll be monitoring the communications lasers here on the ship and be able to detect the tracer and track it back to its origin."

"So to the salarians it'll just seem like some interference or something," Intarr said.

"If they pick it up at all... that's the brilliant part," Yalo said. "The thing we'll be using to pinpoint his location will seem perfectly normal to the salarians, but to us will be obvious."

Yalo looked out into deep space beyond the craft. "It's like constellations. When you look out there, you pretty much just see a whole bunch of stars. But if you're looking for it, you can make out shapes by connecting them, until you have a clear picture." He turned back to the others. "All the salarians will see is stars, but _we'll_ be looking out for the constellations."

"And what exactly stops the salarians from detecting the virus in this pad," Lylanya asked, waving the object in question in front of Yalo. "They have some of the best electronic security in the galaxy."

"The virus itself isn't on the pad, but located in a replacement chip within the device that is only used when data is sent from the pad to another system," Yalo explained. "The chip looks exactly like the one it replaces, which is normally used for password encryption security. We won't be encrypting the pad, so the only way they'd know is if they tried to themselves. And even then, they'd probably simply deduce it was a faulty chip and replace it."

"If we don't know where he is though, how do we deliver it to him?" Intarr asked.

"Mannovai has a consulate where the Dalatrass rules like most Salarian worlds," Lylanya explained. "If Haedian is into something as important as we suspect, only certain individuals within will know about the facility in question. I'll deliver the datapad to the consulate myself and, assuming it passes security checks, they'll sent it to Haedian at the facility."

"And what do _I _do?" the krogan queried.

"Nothing for the moment," Yalo said. "In fact, it's probably best you stay on the ship for the entire trip."

"He's right," Lylanya nodded. "The mere sight of a krogan on Mannovai would be enough to have half the salarian fleet after you. Especially after your little kidnapping incident."

Intarr snorted. "If I'd known that I would have asked the volus if I could borrow one of his Quasar machines. Then I'd have something to do to pass the time."

"Speaking of which, I might go into my quarters and clean up this little message a bit before we get there," Lylanya said, waving the datapad. "It definitely needs touching up."

She left her chair and made her way to the rear door, stopping halfway there for a moment and tapping the pad on her chin.

"And I'll need to pick a nice dress out too. Something that says how important I am, but in a more official sense."

Yalo and Intarr watched her leave and the krogan turned back to Yalo as she disappeared from sight.

"Bet you her quarters have walls that are very, _very_ reflective."

"Perhaps, but you seem to be getting alone with her fine beyond her vanity," Yalo noted with a chuckle.

"She seems okay. I didn't use to think much of asari a long time ago to be honest. But after hearing Gonamida talk about his mate and learning what she taught him, I began to realise that there's a depth and wisdom to them that no krogan could ever possess. Our strength is physical, while theirs is up here." He tapped his forehead with one finger. "And perhaps the krogan could use a bit more of that."

"But not as much as salarians have?" Yalo said slyly. Intarr chuckled.

"Yeah. Definitely not that much."

"Sorry you don't get to crush any salarian skulls," Yalo told him. "I know you were looking forward to it."

"Especially on a place like this," Intarr smiled. "If it wasn't for the security, this place would be salarian skull crushing paradise."

"Well, I'll make sure to mention to Haedian that if he messes up or turns his back on us, his skull is yours to do with as you please."

Intarr's expression shifted from mirth to concern and confusion. "You make it sound like you're bringing him into this thing of yours too."

"That depends on circumstances," Yalo reassured. "I just hope he's as selfish and arrogant as Lylanya is narcissistic."

* * *

It was about half-an-hour later when _Karina_ made it to the mass relay. The massive device thrummed in what was otherwise a void, with two long metal prongs stretching out in one direction and meeting at two rotating rings in the other. One spun vertically, the other horizontally, but within both was the star-bright core of element zero that bathed the otherwise charcoal structure in a brilliant blue light. The ship approached the relay, its sheer size dwarfing the small vessel like a capital ship dwarfs a fighter, and a tether of blue energy joined them as one. An electrical buzzing sound built up in intensity and frequency for a few seconds, finally culminating in a sharp burst as the ship was hurtled into obscurity; guided by the two colossal prongs that pointed to its remote destination and leaving only streaks of sapphire light that dissipated almost as soon as they'd come.

It wasn't long later that a mass relay in salarian space began to whir and spin wildly, the intensity of the element zero's brightness growing. The rings were almost in at a speed where the naked eye would no longer be able to see them when there was a flash and trails of lazuline luminosity with a ship at the head of it. The relay slowed down instantly, returning to its natural speed as the glow faded and _Karina_ pulled away from the transit device in the direction of its next destination.

One of the salarians' first three interstellar colonies, Mannovai was no longer as prominent and important in current times as it used to be, yet remained a solid salarian settlement and a place of distinction and pride. Lylanya had no trouble getting clearance to dock at the port. Yalo knew why, of course. Intarr had just accepted that she'd been there before, as she stated just before arrival, and didn't think more of it beyond that. The asari had now switched her ebon light armour for a formal black dress in the asari style. Like her armour, it too was mostly black, though rather than smooth and hard it was made of a soft textured material adorned with geometric patterns. The neckline was high and the hemline low, covering her feet. Her shoulders were exposed and her forearms covered in dark purple fingerless gloves that came up just above her elbows. The centre of the dress consisted of a strip of sleeker material the same colour as her gloves that trailed from her throat down to her waist, perforated by two oval holes that exposed her skin: one on her upper chest that revealed a hint of cleavage, and the other on her stomach. With the datapad in her hand, she left the ship and made her way towards the consulate.

Thankfully when she'd been here last time to drop off Doctor Haedian, few had witnessed her or known about her presence. The port authority did of course, but beyond that there were a few specific salarian diplomats that dealt with the issue. She had always preferred a good amount of anonymity in her travels because of the work she did. Her strength came from being an unknown most of the time, for secrecy and stealth were the best way to get what you wanted, where you wanted, without anybody even noticing you were there or you'd gotten it. She worked best as just "another asari in the crowd" and not a known entity. And while it was true that she had a certain presence that, combined with her beauty, drew attention to her, she was an expert at making it seem that she was just another pretty face and nothing more. The simple fact of the matter was, the less people who knew who you were, the greater your chance of success. However, this was a rare case where success was far greater in the exact opposite case.

"Hello Miss Alanthios," a tan coloured salarian greeted Lylanya as she entered his office. "I didn't expect to see you back here so soon."

"Greetings, Minister Kalahao," Lylanya responded with a small, polite bow. "It is good to see you again."

"Please, sit down," Kalahao invited, indicating a chair before his silver desk.

"Thank you, but I can't stay for long I'm afraid. I have a simply request regarding Doctor Haedian."

"By all means, Miss Alanthios," the minister said, leaning forward on his desk with his hands clasped before him. "Though I can't guarantee I can _grant_ said request. You are aware of the general nature of the doctor's work."

"That's why I'm here. I have a message to deliver to the doctor," Lylanya said, holding out the pad. "Knowing that I couldn't actually deliver it in _him_ in person, I thought it best to deliver it to _you_ in person. Could you make sure it reaches him?"

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Kalahao said, taking the bad from her. "Assuming it passes security checks that is." He paused. "And who was it from, exactly?"

"Read it yourself, it's all there."

Kalahao tapped the pad with his thumb and his bulbous eyes twitched back and forth as he regarded the contents of the pad. "Hmmm... so you're actually willing to offer Doctor Haedian your services as a personal bodyguard?"

Lylanya nodded. "I like to have steady work when I can, and I feel after the last incidents he'd be willing to pay to have the reassurance that the one who rescued him is there to keep an eye on him."

The salarian rubbed his chin and made a thoughtful noise.

"It could be a viable option for him. We've had him spending his entire time in the facility since he got back and I understand he's been getting restless. If we had somebody like you to watch him we may be able to let him return to his home again. The main problem is clearance, you understand. Despite what you've done for us and what you already know, we still can't let you actually witness any of the research going on. It's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of strict protocol."

"I understand," the asari nodded. "We can work something out if it comes to that."

"Yes, indeed," Kalahao smiled, placing the datapad onto his desk. "No promises on what comes of it, but I'll make sure he gets the pad personally. I'll he heading there for a progress report in a few hours' time and deliver it then."

"You are most kind, Minister," Lylanya smiled. "May Athame see your spirit within you for years to come."

* * *

Back on _Karina_, Yalo sat in the cockpit quietly glancing over a datapad in his hands. The quarian didn't even notice when Lylanya entered the room behind him, having returned from her mission. This was something Lylanya _did_ notice however. Biting her bottom lip, she carefully crept over to him to glance over his shoulder. Perhaps she'd get a clue as to what Yalo was planning in whatever he was reading. All she made out was the image of a planet, with several pieces of data listed. She saw his head move, so quickly stood upright as Yalo turned around to face her; clearing the datapad and putting it away. Beyond seeing the planet, she never got to read anything.

"That was fast," the quarian said.

"What are you implying?" Lylanya joked with a smirk.

"I take it all went well?"

"Very well," she said, leaning on the backrests of two chairs before her. "The pad should be delivered in the next few hours. Then it all depends on what Haedian does with it." A pause. "Where's the krogan?"

"Sleeping in the cargo hold. I hope you don't mind. He was up all night drinking before we left."

"I hope you have something for him to do soon," Lylanya said. "You've already been _how long_ without work?"

"A week."

"A week," Lylanya repeated. "Krogan can get restless enough not attacking something for a _day_ let alone a week."

"He's been tailored to that type of lifestyle more than most krogans already though," Yalo reassured. "But if this Haedian thing works out, I'll have something for him to do soon."

"And what exactly _is_ this mission supposed to accomplish?" Lylanya asked. "You say it's helping your people and that there's credits in it for us, but you haven't even outlined what we're doing. If you just want to _talk_ to him, I could probably arrange it somehow without all this."

"No," Yalo said, his voice firm and adamant. "We have to find out what he's doing. And he won't just tell us. If we find out, we can hold it over him and it will give us the edge."

Lylanya narrowed her eyes, looking at Yalo sideways. "You're planning to blackmail him, aren't you? No... wait. You're planning to blackmail The Union?"

"Of course not," Yalo said. "Blackmailing wouldn't work... it almost never does. Especially when you try and do it to a government oganisation. The key here is knowledge, not credits. Credits come later. Knowledge is power, but actually _possessing_ knowledge is even greater power. I'm planning to _take it_ from them. And, if possible, take a source of that knowledge too."

"You're going to take whatever it is they're working on?" uttered Lylanya, her eyes now wide with disbelief.

"And Haedian too," Yalo smiled.

"You're going to kidnap him?"

"Nothing so crude. No... he's going to come with us willingly. Because if he joins us, _I_ can give him things his government can't and won't."

* * *

Hours passed as _Karina_ drifted in orbit above Mannovai, scanning the signal traffic leaving the surface of the planet for the nearest comm buoy. Lylanya, back in her usual armour, was standing in the small alcove she called a kitchen preparing something to eat when a small alarm sounded from the cockpit next door. Popping something into her mouth that Yalo described as "unnaturally orange" when he'd passed by a few minutes earlier, she strode towards the source of the noise and began manipulating the holographic panel with her hands. A rectangular holographic display appeared above the main console, with the planet displayed along with a few objects marked on it. One of the key ones was the settlement of Mannovai itself, while another was an icon representing her ship. A third red blip appeared partially overlapping the square that represented Mannovai, and with a dotted line joining it to the ship's icon. With more operation of the controls, the display image zoomed in to provide a closer and more specific representation of the locations and objects. It seemed whatever the place was that the signal originated, it was almost ten kilometres from the centre of Mannovai in the northwest portion of the colony. Lylanya smiled, turning around just as Yalo walked in the door.

"We have him," she said with pride. "Now all we have to do is _get_ to him."

"You up for casing the place?" Yalo asked.

"Ooooh, another chance to test my little toy," the asari responded, examining her right wrist as if she was wearing and admiring an expensive bracelet. "There's just something so... _exciting_ about sneaking around potentially dangerous places."

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then," Yalo said, activating his omni-tool. "Once you've done that, perhaps we can find a secure way in. I think I have enough tools and mods on this thing to get us past any alarms and electronic security they may have, but we still have to avoid guards and personnel. Are you okay with taking out guards if we have to?"

"I prefer to keep blood off my hands if possible," Lylanya admitted. "I can if absolutely necessary, but I do have several means of getting rid of them that are humane. Or at least non-fatal."

"For how long?"

"It varies. Depends on the method. Several hours if you like."

"The longer the better," Yalo said. "We'll wait until a couple of hours after nightfall, which will be about four hours from now."

* * *

Nightfall descended on the colony, followed soon after by Lylanya's sleek vessel; diving down from the dark scintillant emptiness of space into the equally dark scintillant voluminosity of nocturnal Mannovai. Lylanya was not alone leaving the ship and docking port this time. Yalo knew that it wasn't uncommon for quarians on their pilgrimage to visit a salarian world, as quarians prized technology and knowledge. This was particularly true with regards to ships, and the salarians were almost always the ones on the cutting edge in new ship technology. While she had not come to Mannovai, even his sister Linna had spent time in salarian space. Yes, he would stand out a little bit, but not enough to raise suspicion, unlike if Intarr had joined them.

The two decided to rent a car and drive there, using the navigation system in the vehicle in conjunction with Yalo's omni-tool to gauge where to go. Their destination seemed fairly obvious once it came into view, and they pulled up a few hundred metres away and disembarked. The building was large, about seven storeys in height and spread over an area of approximately 200 metres squared. There were windows all over it, but the ones they could see had no light beyond. The entire place was surrounded by a high wall about half the height of the building itself, with examples of lush, tropical vegetation scattered here and there between them, reaching skyward as dark silhouettes rustling in the warm night breeze. There was no signs of life beyond the flora, but both observers were not convinced this was the case.

Looking around, Lylanya found a nearby tree much like some of the ones beyond the wall and immediately began to climb it. Despite a lack of branches on the tree, she did a remarkable job of scaling the thing all the way up, stopping just below the fronds at the summit. She unclipped a set of binoculars and, using them, looked in the direction of the building. After a short while she paused, smiled, then slid down the tree even faster than she'd gone up.

"There's at least one guard near the front door," she said. "A turian it seems. Aside from that, no other protection I can see, but there's probably a surveillance system in place too."

"Any ideas then?" Yalo asked.

"Perhaps the idea isn't to break in. Perhaps the idea is to find a way for them to _let_ us in," Lylanya suggested. "Surely there must be at least _something_ that goes in there, even if it's only food and basic supplies."

"How would we find that out?" Yalo asked.

"The guard would know. He'd have to to allow anything in after all."

"And you think he's just going to tell us?"

"I'm pretty sure I can get him to tell _me_," Lylanya smiled. Yalo recognised the carnal look in her eyes and the confidence in her voice.

"What... you think you're just going to slink up to him, maybe show some blue skin, and he'll just talk?"

"I didn't say anything about him talking," Lylanya said, her grin growing as she shook her head. "I said that he was going to tell me."

"You can't even get to him, let alone get anything_ from_ him."

"He'll end his shift and come off duty eventually."

"Yes. Which is when he goes inside and doesn't appear again for several hours," Yalo countered. Lylanya shook her head.

"I doubt it. He's a turian, and judging from his armour a member of a private security force known as 'The Terrestrial' as well. So if The Salarian Union really do have highly classified material and activity going on in there, he's probably restricted to guarding the outside of the facility. Members of The Terrestrial are hired to do the job and that's it. He'll only know what he needs to know, and that'll be enough for us to get in."

Lylanya turned around and opened the vehicle door again, getting inside.

"All we need to do is watch and wait."

Yalo joined her and she closed the canopy again to enclose them. After sitting there silently for a while, Yalo spoke up.

"So, how did you become a mercenary, exactly?"

The initial response from Lylanya was a short snort of laughter. "What, you expect me to just tell you all about myself even though you won't tell me anything about you and _your_ plans?"

"Well, we could just sit here quietly all night if you'd prefer," Yalo said, followed by a brief pause before mockingly adding, "besides, I figured that you'd probably_ like_ talking about yourself."

Lylanya let out a chuckle. "You've got me there," she admitted.

"Well?"

"There's really not much to tell," she shrugged. This time it was Yalo's turn to make a noise of disbelief.

"You've been alive for hundreds of years and you're telling me there's not much to tell?"

"You make me sound _old_!" Lylanya defended. "I'm only two-hundred and twenty seven."

"Well, even in as 'little' as two-hundred and twenty seven years you must have _something_ to say?" Yalo pressed.

"Well... I was born and raised on Thessia. My mother was a fashion designer, believe it or not, and my father was a turian businessman of some renown. I rarely saw him though as he and my mother parted ways shortly after I was born, so mother raised me alone, which isn't uncommon for asari. It was through her and her work I developed my love of beautiful things and attention to detail. She taught me that if one does something, they should get it as close to perfection as possible.

"When I got a little but older I would often help out my mother try out various designs whenever she worked at home. By this point she was designing some of the premier Thessian fashions and had become rather well-known herself, so I actually started to become quite proud of the fact that I was often the first one who got to wear these beautiful clothes intended for the finest asari women. Eventually I got it into my head that I wanted to model some of them myself professionally, and with the connections my mother had I realised I could. She was against the idea at first, but eventually gave into my wishes."

"So... what made you go from fashion model to mercenary?" Yalo asked.

"There was... an incident, shall we say," Lylanya answered, clearly somewhat reluctant. "The lifestyle of somebody on the side of the fashion industry is a turbulent one. I won't go into details, but I'll just say that involved a big fashion event, a tight dress, a lot of strong liquor and somebody wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I defended myself, and the person on the other end of said defense never walked again. My mother was furious, because my actions didn't only make me look bad, but made her look bad too. And it didn't help that the victim of my attack -assuming you can _call_ him the victim- was a rich investor. She gave me a lecture... told me that she warned me about this before and that she _knew_ I was too young for such a occupation. She felt I needed to get out of the profession and learn some discipline. So, I was enlisted into military service, where I learnt to fight and control my biotic abilities.

"I felt divided about it all personally. There was something about the combat and the training and using my biotics that was near intoxicating for me, but I absolutely _hated_ the discipline. I never liked being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, or anything else. When I was training I was fine, but I loathed everything else. I missed the freedom I had in my old life, but learning how to become a formidable force made up for it. That was until it was discovered that by biotic abilities were one of the strongest of the group, and I was soon transferred to commando training. The discipline was even stronger here... it became overwhelming! I needed freedom to live happily, and what little I had had been pretty much taken away entirely now. Eventually it just got to me and I left. And not properly either, I just took off in the middle of the night."

"And then you became a merc?" Yalo asked.

"Yeah. I couldn't return home after deserting and I _wouldn't_ go back to the military. I figured I had learned enough from both my time with mother and my time being professionally trained to use the best of both worlds and create a life out of it. I could have everything I liked about both aspects of my life beforehand without any of the stuff I hated. So, I became a mercenary. First joining a few outfits, then eventually going freelance."

After Yalo requested a specific tale from her, Lylanya was about halfway through telling him a story about some batarian smugglers she and her first outfit had to deal with when they observed a small car pulling up outside the main gates of the salarian facility. The canopy opened up and out stepped an armoured turian from the front passenger seat, while the salarian driver remained seated. The main gate slid open to reveal another turian. The two talked for a short moment, then the one who was on the other side of the gate got in the car while the one who had just arrived disappeared as the gate closed again. The car drove off, and Yalo and Lylanya made pursuit.

They followed the car, carefully staying far enough behind to avoid suspicion in the quiet areas, but not being afraid to drive closer when traffic was more dense. This lasted about five minutes before the trailed vehicle stopped and parked. The top opened, the turian exiting and walking into a building. The area was fairly crowded here, both vehicle and pedestrian wise, so Yalo and Lylanya had no problems deciding to park the car a little closer themselves.

Lylanya leaned forward and looked up, a huge smile forming on her lips. "Oh... this couldn't be more perfect," she said.

Curious as to what she had meant, Yalo too tilted forward and craned his head, and knew then that he didn't even need to ask what his companion had planned.

* * *

Malveena Polimnya had been a dancer at The Sapphire Suite for only a few years of her life, but enjoyed the fact that it was far less busy and noisy than her time at previous establishments. Being a salarian colony, Mannovai wasn't filled with as many patrons whose appetites got the better of them. Members of other races came and went -which was a good thing because without them she'd probably be out of a job- but they were fewer, quieter and less rambunctious here. This meant she could concentrate more on her performance and less on having to keep an eye out for those who decided to get a little too friendly.

With bright green eyes and pale blue skin, Malveena had left the main stage and entered the dressing room she shared with the other asari and human dancers at the club. She had just finished her first few hours of working the stage and was on her first break of the evening. Parched from her performance, she approached a dresser and grasped a bottle of water from it; drinking it down soundly and letting out a satisfied sigh. She also relished the darkness and quiet of the room compared to the intermittent flashing of lights and thumping from the ambient music. Here the lighting was dull in the dark purple room, with only a soft light around the mirror on the far wall providing illumination presently.

Taking another sip of water, she leaned forward to look in the mirror, checking that the imitation markings on her face were still in pristine condition; a slight inconvenience due to not possessing any natural facial markings of her own combined with the fact that most patrons apparently found them appealing. They seemed intact, but as she checked she noticed something in the mirror out the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she found herself not believing her eyes as another asari stepped out through the wall behind her as if it were thin air. Dropping her water bottle, Malveena's mouth was left hanging open as she backed up against the dresser behind herself and the asari newcomer spoke.

"Your clothes... give them to me. Now."

"Y-y-you... you want me to take off my clothes?" Malveena asked, sounding scared to begin with, but then more confused and disturbed than anything else.

"That's what I said," came the response.

"Look... I don't know _what_ you're into and what kind of place you think this is, but you can't just come back here and make the dancers give you some kind of... kind of... private _sexual_ favours!"

Lylanya cocked one brow, then her eye caught something beyond the dancer.

"Never mind... there's another back there. Looks more my size too."

"You're really weird!" Malveena uttered, and she began to move slowly towards the door. "And you shouldn't be back here... whoever you are."

"Don't worry. I'll be gone by the time you wake up."

"Wake up?" Malveena queried, fear creeping further into her voice and her body creeping further to the exit. "What are you going t-"

The shorter and paler asari was cut short of finishing her next question, as Lylanya swept her right hand up into the air and Malveena's entire body shimmered with a bright blue glow. The dancer was thrust up off her feet and into the air, her entire body going limp just before the top of her head made a significant impact with the ceiling above. For a moment after this she floated there just below the ceiling, still radiating biotic energy and twisting in the air slightly like a crippled ship adrift in space. Then, the light left her, and gravity took hold to bring her crashing to the floor in a wilted heap. Lylanya approached the body, then stooped and dragged it into a nearby closet. Malveena was merely unconscious, and Lylanya knew she would only have a certain amount of time before her victim woke again with a strong headache and a loud voice.

Lylanya stepped out onto the stage, her usual armour switched for the same type of lustrous, skintight suit of dark purple that Malveena wore. While the outfit covered her from neck to toe, the material tended to conceal flesh that didn't really need to be, while failing to cover flesh in more risqué areas, namely the thighs, buttocks and a good portion of her breasts. The lights in the place were dazzling, flashing off her attire and getting in her eyes. It took a little while for her vision to adjust to the constant transition from the dim red glow of the ambient background lighting to bright flashes of the intermittent stage lights, but once she did things were clear as day. She strode up to the pole at the end of the stage before her, scanning the tables, chairs and lounge seats before her to find who she was after. The constant mess of lights would hopefully be enough to stop the fancy-dressed salarian she assumed was the manager from seeing that she wasn't one of his dancers. She found her target in the distance to her right, sitting at a table alone and thankfully at the opposite end of the room from the bar when the presumed manager was. Swinging smoothly around the pole, she observed the area further though, to gather more intel on the workings of the place. After all, if she were just to wander up to the turian and give him a "private dance" in a place where it wasn't allowed, then she may as well pull out her gun and start shooting wildly into the air. Thankfully, not only did she spot a human woman giving a one-on-one performance to a human male, but also some private booths at the far right of the room.

Sliding off the pole and easing herself off the stage to the main floor, she swung her hips and twirled her way towards the turian in question. Without giving him a chance to even react to her approach, she eased herself down onto his lap and wrapped a single arm around his shoulders. Aside from an initial jump upon contact, he didn't appear to object. She smiled, both at the acceptance and as part of the act, ever the fan of the double entendre.

"Hi there," Lylanya sibilated seductively. "You look like you've had a hard day."

"Boring would be more accurate," the turian responded with frustration. "But that _is_ the way things are for me lately."

"Sorry to hear," Lylanya purred. "If there's anything I can do to help... just ask."

He paused, then looked at her carefully. "I've never seen you before. New here?"

"Very much so," she smiled. "I only _just_ started. Though don't let that misguide you... I am very, _very_ experienced."

"I'm sure you are," the turian responded. To Lylanya's frustration he sounded more doubtful and dismissive than interested. She stroked his jaw gently.

"So, what's you're name, handsome?"

"I prefer to keep that to myself and my employers," the turian answered.

"Oh my! A man of _mystery_," Lylanya said, running one hand across his chest. "I find that very _exciting_." She paused. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to be somewhere a little more... private?"

Lylanya jerked her head in the direction of the booths on the far wall, and the turian looked at her with wide eyes, his mandibles dropping noticeably.

"My, you _are_ a direct one, aren't you."

"You have no idea," Lylanya responded. "And trust me... we go in there, and the next few moments of your life will be _anything_ but boring."

The turian was hers now, and she knew it. She got off his lap, taking his left arm in her hands as she carefully, but assertively, led him to the room. Once they were beyond the blood-red curtains, she twirled him past herself towards the large, soft chair that lay at the back of the booth. Pushing him gently into it, she began to dance before him for a while, smiling, winking and flirting every so often. After about half a minute of this, she leaned down towards him.

"Maybe you should remove that hard, nasty armour from yourself," she suggested. "It looks uncomfortable. And besides, wouldn't you rather have _me_ wrapped around you?"

The proposition startled the turian. "I... I didn't know that such, well... _intimate_ options were available here."

"They generally aren't," Lylanya uttered, and she straddled herself across his lap. "But, what the boss doesn't know won't hurt us, will it?"

Her hands moved over him and he could hear the sound of his armour being unfastened. At this point he was paralysed.

"I'll show you some techniques that would make the other girls here blush to death," she hissed in a steamy voice from lips only centimetres away from his. "Special asari methods that will blow your mind... amongst other things. For one thing, have you ever melded with an asari before?"

"III um... I, ah... that is... um..."

"Don't worry, it doesn't require much from you at all," Lylanya soothed, and he felt her hands on either side of his face. "All you need to do is open your mind. Give your mind freely to me, and I'll give my mind - and my body- freely to you."

Lylanya closed her eyes, lowering her face slightly. She paused for a moment, then spoke.

"Are you ready?"

She heard a few short breaths from the turian, before he finally uttered, "yes."

"Good, " she answered with a smirk. "Then open your mind. And embrace... _eternity_!"

Lylanya's head jerked upward as she uttered the last word, her eyelids flashing open to reveal orbs of pure black. The turian briefly spasmed in her hands and threw his own head back against the backrest. A large smile formed on the asari's face, and she spoke aloud, not to the turian, but to herself.

"Yes... yes... that's it. What have we here? Yes... yes... Hmmm? That _is_ interesting. But I need more. More!"

The turian's head twitched some more, Lylanya biting her bottom lip for a while before smiling again.

"Aha! There it is. You thought you could hide it from me... but you opened up just a _little_ too much, didn't you? Well... let's see what else I can get..."

Another spasm rocked from between Lylanya's hands, along with a small turian gasp. Lylanya gritted her teeth a little, then the tip of her tongue poked out one side of her mouth. She smiled again after a little while.

"That's good to know too. My, my, my... we _do_ have some secrets in here. But I think I've dug enough for today."

Lylanya's eyes closed and she released the turian, who just sat there in the chair completely still. Opening her eyes to again reveal two deep blue irises surrounded by white, she left the turian's lap, adjusting her clothing as he just stared up at her.

"There. Was that good for you?" she asked.

"What... what did you do to me?" he responded, hostility growing in his voice.

"Something that didn't hurt as much as this," she answered, and he saw a flash of purple as her foot made contact with the middle of his face. Lylanya turned around and departed back through the curtains, leaving the guard slumped in his chair.

* * *

Outside The Sapphire Suite, Yalo waited in the car, going over things in his head as he usually did in moments such as this. He was prepared for success, but knew he had to take into consideration that at any time things could go wrong and lead to failure or, even worse, utter disaster. That had almost been the case back on Bersilius after all. Though at the same time, events there had helped get him closer to his goal, assuming that his current objective was going to actually achieve that. Not only did he have to rely on Lylanya's actions in the club paying off, but he had to rely on things going his way from there.

One key factor was that he had to rely on the notion that Doctor Haedian would be willing to join them. Convincing somebody to do something is one thing, but convincing them to do something that one isn't even fully convinced of themselves is another. Yalo just had to remember that the ultimate result had to be success. Thankfully he didn't have to worry about the success of Lylanya's efforts, as the asari tapped on the top of the car. Yalo opened the canopy to see her smiling broadly.

"I take it from your expression that you succeeded?" the quarian asked.

"More than that," she responded. "I can get them to literally _take_ us in there."


	10. Chapter 10

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 10**

Yalo stared past the infinite reflections of himself at the stars beyond _Karina's _main viewing port. Draped casually in the primary passenger seat of the cockpit, the quarian relaxed in the darkness, the only illumination coming from the thin blue light that streaked down the centre of the section's ceiling and the subtle luminescence beyond the window. The relaxation he was experiencing was purely physical though, with his mind anything but. Like Lylanya and Intarr he had settled down to sleep a few hours ago, but had been kept awake by thoughts that had become too loud and too insistent to let him slumber; even more so than the krogan's deep snoring that seemed to vibrate through the entire cargo hold. That's partially why he was in the cockpit now instead: to get some peace.

The krogan had actually been something that had been on his mind. How long would he be able to keep Intarr in the dark regarding what had happened on Bersilius, particularly if Doctor Haedian were to join them as he had planned? Even if Lylanya planned to keep things secret the entire time, there's no guarantee the salarian would at all. It all seemed insignificant in the grand scheme of things though. Yalo's attention returned to the stars and thoughts of his last moments with his love on the _Lerta_ came flooding back. Thoughts more about what he had said to her than of her directly. All those stars and systems out there, and not a single one for his people to live on. His unseen eyes narrowed in contempt and determination at this recollection.

Part of him wished that his task was all over and done with, but another part found it hard to look forward to anything. Looking forward to things was a selfish notion, and that was something he couldn't afford to be. To wish time to fast-forward was to wish people's lives away, for time passed for everybody just as it did for him. It would be best to let things simply play out as they were meant to and that those who need it get as much time as they can while they still have it. It also gave him more time of course, but that again was a selfish thought. He was dedicated to helping his people and not helping himself. It was why he had to give up a standard quarian life, it was why he had to give up Elli and it was why he would have to give up a lot more in the future. That's why he considered himself to have no time at all. As far as he was concerned, his life had ended the moment he'd left the Migrant Fleet.

_Will it be worth it?_

Linna's voice drifted through his mind, as clear and soft as if she had been right there with him. In fact, he could swear that it was her staring back at him from the window instead of his own reflection. He answered aloud, talking to the image in the glass as if it were her. "If it succeeds... yes."

_And if it fails?_

"It won't."

_You don't know that._

"If I succeed, so will it."

_You of all people should know that nothing is absolute. That nothing is certain._

"Then at least I'll have tried to do something."

_Will those you cause to suffer along the way make that enough to justify it all? Or does only success determine that?_

"And what would you have me do? Let morals guide my path? A path that leads to a place where morals have little meaning anyway."

_You've forgotten one of the most sacred rules regarding the pilgrimage: that no harm should be brought to anybody to attain your gift._

"Maybe our people wouldn't still be homeless drifters in space if more of us hadn't adhered to that stupid rule!"

It took a few moments for Yalo to realise he was standing up now and had just yelled his response loudly at the reflection that had once seemed like his sister, but was now just his own. Breathing heavily for a few seconds, he composed himself and was about to sit back down when he heard a voice from behind him. It was female, but not that of his sister. "Who were you talking to?"

Yalo's head snapped around to the rear of the cockpit, where Lylanya stood leaning in and against the door frame, a mixed look of amusement and confusion on her face. Yalo just sat back down, looking away from the asari. "Nobody," came his answer, which he knew to be unconvincing to the point where he wondered why he had even given it.

"And I thought I was the only one who talked to my own reflection," he heard her respond, her voice getting louder and closer with each word. By the time she'd ended her sentence she was leaning on the backrest of the pilot's chair looking down at him. "I admittedly tend to generally agree with myself rather than argue though," she added playfully.

Yalo didn't speak for a while, and Lylanya's grin had long dissipated by the time he did. "I sometimes like to... go over things with myself. It helps me put things into perspective when I have my doubts."

"You doubt whether saving your people is a good idea?"

Yalo turned and looked up at Lylanya. The asari shrugged and uttered, "I overheard a couple of things you said."

The quarian sighed, looking down for a moment before leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling. "I don't doubt what I'm trying to do in the long run. I just sometimes wonder about the way I'm going about it. But I shouldn't. I need to put my own concerns aside and just focus on the task at hand."

"We all do things that aren't always considered to be right by a lot of people to get what we want," Lylanya said, sliding around the side of her chair to take a seat beside Yalo. "I suppose the only thing that separates the good from the bad are that the bad never worry about it. They tend to have less noble goals in the end too."

Yalo snorted from behind his visor, looking out at the stars. "Yes... noble," he uttered with bitter sarcasm. Lylanya's forehead twitched at this in a manner that would raise her eyebrows if she possessed them. Instead it merely made a few of the markings on her face seem a little larger than before.

"What's not noble about wanting to save your entire species?"

Yalo sighed and turned to face her. She sat there in her chair, her deep blue eyes looking both very sincere and very curious. She was hugging her bare legs to her chest in the seat, and Yalo only really then acknowledged that she was only wearing a tight black tank top and and some underpants, despite her being that way since she'd walked into the cockpit. It was like she didn't acknowledge it either, but then she never did seem to care about modesty that much.

"Let me put it this way," the quarian started. "Would it be noble if saving your entire species required the extermination of another one?"

Lylanya frowned a bit, her purple lips twisting up into her left cheek. Her gaze fell to nothing on the ground. "I... I guess not," she eventually managed, and then her eyes trained on Yalo with a direct urgency."I hope you're not planning to-"

"No, nothing quite like that," Yalo interrupted before he could be accused. "It was just an example. I was merely illustrating that seemingly noble goals don't always mean a noble means of attaining them."

"Well, _I_ can't really help you if you won't tell me what it is you're up to beyond the next step and the result you're after."

"I guess that's true," Yalo sighed, his gaze returning to the window. After a few seconds of silence he added, "I know what you were trying to do there, by the way."

Lylanya just poked out her tongue and made a face that Yalo saw as a reflection, followed by her leaving the chair and heading back towards the rear of the ship.

"You'll find out eventually," she heard him say from behind her just as she reached the exit. "When the time is right, I promise that."

"I might be more useful if I knew now," she responded, not even looking back over her shoulder, but pausing in the doorway. She heard him chuckle.

"No. If I told you know, you'd probably leave."

"Why? Because what you're planning is so awful?"

"Perhaps," Yalo admitted. "But more because I know that it's likely your curiosity that's keeping you here more than anything else." Lylanya closed her eyes and smiled, eliciting a slight chuckle only she could hear. She then simply returned to her quarters.

The waiting was the hardest part for Yalo right now. It would be another two galactic standard days until and the others could enact the next part of their plan, and until then they were to remain in _Karina_ on a barren moon basically just waiting. Yalo had been concerned about how much the turian Lylanya had got the information from might know, but she assured him that her victim likely only had the vaguest idea of what she had done, and that he'd probably be too proud and cowardly to admit what had happened to anybody. Learning of this ability of hers also made the quarian realise just what she had probably been trying to do to him back at Talan Jol's. The fact that she could switch between a ruthless manipulator and a friendly ear so easily made Yalo nervous, but she had been an invaluable ally thus far, and he had no doubt she could be very useful for his plans in the near future.

* * *

It was almost forty galactic standard hours when Lylanya's ship descended upon Mannovai once again, though this time it didn't land at the main docking port, and probably given its rather common visitations the authorities didn't seem to care. If they even acknowledged its presence, they certainly didn't let Lylanya or anybody else aboard _Karina_ know. This time the ship wasn't going to land, instead merely dropping off Yalo and Lylanya on the surface before leaving, and the asari was going to be trusting it to the krogan; an idea of Yalo's. Intarr wasn't needed for this mission, and by piloting the ship he could get them in and leave quickly. It also meant that, all going well, Yalo would hopefully be able to talk with Haedian about Intarr and perhaps explain some things without tipping off the krogan about earlier dealings. The fact was, Intarr's immanence at this time was more of a hindrance than a help, but the krogan was stubborn and far more loyal that Yalo deserved. And part of him felt that Intarr's constant presence was a good reminder for him of not only what he had done but what he was going to do. Perhaps future guilt wouldn't hit so hard if he were tempered by that which he already felt.

"Are you sure you can fly her? She's a more complex ship than your clumsy krogan land vehicles."

Intarr snorted at Lylanya's concerns so much the holographic interface before him wavered and rippled. "I've been driving vehicles and flying craft for almost as long as you've been alive," he snarled. "You'd probably trust the quarian with it, and by both our standards he's a child."

"Yes, but he's also got more intelligence at his young age now than you'll probably _ever_ have," Lylanya answered back. "And he didn't break my seat."

"Not my fault your flimsy furniture can't take a krogan ass," Intarr shrugged. "Now are you two getting off or am I going to leave this thing floating here all night?"

The asari narrowed her eyes and left the cockpit, and shortly thereafter the ship itself as she joined Yalo outside. The two just gave each other a glance and turned away, both walking swiftly in opposite directions without a word. Their target would be along soon and they'd have to both be prepared and in position at the right moment. Yalo had to get to a particular road intersection about two blocks away while Lylanya needed to occupy a hopefully secluded alleyway almost half a kilometre away. Assuming the information Lylanya had reaped from the turian's mind was accurate they should have about twenty minutes to get ready.

It took less than a couple of minutes for Yalo to reach his destination, but there was more than just his presence needed for his part in the plan. First he had to make sure nobody else was around to see him, which was one small factor that could be enough to screw up the entire endeavor. Fortunately despite being a well-lit convergence of roads, at this time of night the intersection was deserted. It probably didn't hurt that it was near the edge of the colony in an area that was mostly industrial zoned territory. Checking his surroundings one more time to be certain, Yalo approached one of the traffic lights and knelt before it, sliding a small object from a thin holster on his right angle into his palm. He turned it about in his hands a couple of times before unfolding something small from it that was thin and long; the way the light gleamed from it suggesting it was metallic. The unfolded protrusion was inserted into several holes in the traffic light's control box, a soft whirring sound sounding from the device each time.

After the four holes on each corner were each probed, Yalo flicked the tool away and removed the front panel of the control box, placing it gently beside him on the ground. Activating his omni-tool, the quarian manipulated it, looking up as the lights above him reacted. He deactivated his omni-tool after a few seconds of this, then unfolded another different device from his ankle tool that began to spark at the tip. Touching it to some of the connections in the control box, he switched some of the wires around, then deactivated the welding tool and reactivated his omni-tool once more. Looking up to see two sets of lights flashing red and another two sets with green arrows pointing to the right he made a satisfied noise, then worked the omni-tool again.

There was a flash along the roads as two bright yellow holograms activated, stretching between three of the poles. Almost two metres in height and pulsing from yellow through orange to red and back again, the two light-signs formed an L-shape that blocked off two of the roads and left only the one behind Yalo and the one to the right of him unobstructed. Bordered by spinning chevrons above and below, the holographic words "WARNING: ROAD CLOSED" drifted back and forth between the traffic light poles as if perpetually bouncing off them. Yalo nodded with satisfaction, then contacted Lylanya through his omni-tool with a simple message of "it's done" and received an even briefer acknowledgment in return. Deactivating the tool, he replaced the front panel on the control box, reattaching it with the same tool he had removed it with, then casually wandered away.

It wasn't long before a large truck approached the intersection, slowing down as it approached. The vehicle was tall and long, with twelve fat wheels and a very boxy shape at the rear, indicating it was a transport of some kind. It was a dusty, sandy colour and tapered at the front to contrast the back. The driver was a bluish-grey salarian who looked as if he wore a permanent frown, the dying remnants of a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth. He appeared to have a greater upper-body strength than most salarians and as he slowed down at the lights before him his forehead crinkled into a deeper grimace than before. With a grunt and some mumbled curses he encouraged his lumberous vehicle right, taking the detour that would lead him and it down a side-street long the edge of Mannovai rather than deeper into it. As he brought the vehicle level again, he snatched another cigarette from a crumpled packet upon the dashboard, poking it into the lighter before wedging it into the opposite side of his mouth than the one already there. Leaning one elbow on the open window frame, he twitched his lips to send the remains of his erstwhile cigarette out onto the sidewalk below, and accelerated again down his new path, unaware that he'd picked up an unwanted passenger at the nadir of his vehicle's speed during the turn.

"It's on its way," Yalo spoke into his communicator from the back of the truck.

"Acknowledged," Lylanya responded, standing on the side of an isolated street with the road on one side of her and the entrance to an alleyway on the other. There she just watched and waited, not even blinking as she gazed down the road ahead, her seemingly unnatural blue eyes appearing even more vibrant and luminescent in the night glow. It wasn't long before a vehicle appeared in the distance, coming around a corner from the left. Lylanya smirked, reached across to her right wrist with her left hand, and disappeared from sight.

The truck roared down the road, going faster than it probably should be given the urban area it occupied, but then there was nobody else in sight and the detour was going to delay him by at least a few minutes. They liked everything to be precisely on time at his destination after all. He didn't notice the young asari standing on the sidewalk ahead of him, but nobody would when her physical image was being refracted into the alleyway nearby. As a predator stalking its prey she anticipated and endured until the perfect moment to strike. Like the instant in time when the present becomes the past or when the experience becomes the memory, that moment saw the salarian driver with nothing in front of him becoming a screaming asari in the middle of the road. His foot slammed down, wheels locked and skidded, and rubber screeched and pierced the once dead night air. He knew that there was no way he'd avoid hitting her going at his speed, but what he knew was wrong. Despite seeing his truck make contact with her, there was no loud noise or sense of impact against the front of the vehicle. The cigarette had dropped from his gaping mouth and landed on the seat, and he might have smelt it singeing the leather if not for the overwhelming smell of burnt rubber wafting in through his window. As the wafting dust and smoke began to clear, the driver caught something out of the corner of his eye, then jumped as he turned his head to see gun poking through the window at his head, and a smirk of purple lips beyond it.

"Out of the truck, if you please," Lylanya said, hanging from the driver-side door almost playfully.

The salarian took a few moments to collect himself, blinking his bulbous eyes frantically a couple of times before reaching for the door. This motion saw Lylanya hopping backwards onto the pavement below, just in case he tried to give the door a hefty push or something. When the door was open he could see her looking up at him with her pistol still trained on him. Leaping out of the seat in front of her he looked her in the face and his left brow twitched upwards as he uttered his first words."But... but I _hit_ you!"

"Are you sure?" Lylanya mocked. "I don't _feel_ splattered all over the front of your truck. I might have broken a nail though... perhaps you did _that_ to me when you ran me down."

"What did you do? Did you use a hologram or something?"

"Ooooh, nice guess, but wrong," Lylanya said. "No more guesses I'm afraid, just the access to the back door of the truck and your name." A pause. "For you to give to _me_ that is."

"Actually, I've already got the back open," the asari heard a familiar quarian voice say as Yalo hopped off the back of the truck, waving his omni-tool before him. "Wasn't as complicated as I thought."

"Oh, then we just need your name then," Lylanya said.

"What, all of it?" the salarian answered.

"The shortened version will be fine," Lylanya answered. "I don't need to know where you first wet yourself, what school you failed at or how inbred you are."

The salarian frowned and Lylanya shrugged. "Sorry, but there must be some reason why you're the one taking this stuff to the labs and not one of the ones working in them," she explained with obviously feigned apology.

"My name is Kayoad."

Lylanya snorted a laugh at this, making the salarian look at her sideways. Yalo too was curious at her reaction.

"Why so amused, asari?" Kayoad asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Is that _really_ your name?" she queried further, her lips stretching up into a large smile.

"Yes. Why does this make you laugh?"

"Well," Lylanya started before trying to cough the amusement out of herself. "Let's just say your name is going to be very appropriate shortly. Now turn around."

"Excuse me?"

"_Turn_ around," Lylanya insisted, waving the gun in the direction of the truck behind him. With an indecipherable mumble the driver complied, turning only his body to start with before his head joined it about halfway around; his eyes the last thing to shift in the opposite direction. Reversing the pistol in her hand, Lylanya swung it to crack him across the back of the skull with the weapon, and the salarian slumped forward into the wheel before him and crumpled onto the pavement.

The asari folded and holstered her weapon, about-facing to the alleyway behind and focusing on a trash disposal container at the rear of one of the buildings. Blue energy coated her form, washing across it like sapphire liquid as the calm silence was interrupted by a soft buzzing hum. She swept her left hand up into the air before her and the container shook and jostled for a second, the lid raising up. Then with her right arm she motioned towards the salarian's body and gently rose it and him up and sent him drifting towards the dumpster. His limp form slowly floated about two metres above the ground, twisting and turning in the air as if rolling through the void of space. Lylanya then concentrated on him, drawing her left arm back behind her as the brightness surrounding her increased. There was a burst of light and sound as Lylanya snapped her arm forward and the energy seemed to slide around her and up her arm into a bright ball at her fingertips before it shot from them. With a warping sound the pulsing orb made contact with the adrift salarian, and jettisoning him in into the open container with a clatter; the force causing the lid to creak and slam shut again.

"A bit rougher than I'd hoped," Lylanya cringed in assessment, "but it did the job."

"I hope you got his security card before you did that," Yalo commented dryly.

"Crap!" Lylanya responded before striding briskly back into the alleyway.

It wasn't long before the two of them were underway in the truck; Lylanya driving while Yalo looked around in the back. They didn't want to be too late and hadn't taken the time to check out the cargo before setting off, so Yalo took the opportunity to quickly glance at it now before they arrived. Flicking on a light on the ceiling revealed a whole bunch of carefully stacked crates that all looked almost identical. They were probably about two metres in length each and about half that in width and height, with a row down either side of the hold and two more rows in the centre, stacked three containers high in each case. All were glossy white with a dark grey horizontal stripe around the middle, and looking more closely at one of the containers, Yalo could make out something written on it: beryllium. He looked at the crate under it, which read 'polonium' and the one under that had 'thorium' on it.

"I've been looking at the cargo," Yalo said to Lylanya through his communicator, knowing that he'd probably have to yell a fair bit towards the cab for her to hear him otherwise. "It appears to be crates full of various minerals."

"Anything particular of note beyond that?" Lylanya's voice responded through his helmet.

"Not really," Yalo answered, wandering through the gaps between the containers and reading more. "Some are fairly rare, but there's some stuff you'd find pretty much everywhere too." He paused, reading one crate again carefully. "There's even some eezo in one of them."

"Do you think you could hide inside one of them?"

"They seem quite heavy," Yalo answered, his voice coming through a little strained as he tried moving a couple of them. "We'd have to empty one first I'd say."

"Then I'll pull over somewhere secluded and we can do that."

"Alright," Yalo agreed. "So long as I'm going into one that's holding something safe."

"Don't tell me you only wear that suit for looks," Lylanya responded, and he could hear the smirk.

Lylanya pulled the vehicle over near a block with some vegetation on it. Despite being a rather heavy crate to haul out, it was the titanium one that seemed like the safest one to open and have Yalo crawl inside. While both were fairly sure the others would be properly packed and sealed on the inside too, they preferred to take no chances with minerals and elements that might just react poorly to exposure to an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. The two of them threw the titanium within into the flora, then reloaded the container onto the truck. Yalo crawled inside and Lylanya sealed it on him. It was pressure-sealed and airtight, so anybody else would have suffocated in there without some kind of breathing apparatus and air supply. Fortunately Yalo's environmental suit had all that built in.

* * *

Just over five minutes later they made it to the facility, which on the outside looked more abandoned than a krogan's hope to have triplets, but which the two new visitors knew was likely thriving on the inside. Perhaps not at this time of night, but in a few hours time it would be. When scouting the place earlier Lylanya had noticed a large gate around the eastern side of the wall, though there appeared to be no visible guards or anything there at the time. Knowing that was the likely place where their delivery would be made -as well as the fact the truck wouldn't fit through the front gate- Lylanya rolled the truck towards the large movable barrier. As it slowly approached she began to decelerate, but found the gate start to slowly slide across to grant her access. Driving beyond the walls she found a large flat area at the side of the main building that was pretty clear, save for a few stacked crates piled up against the outer eastern wall of the building. The ground here was firm and dusty, almost like driving on concrete, and for all Lylanya knew there could have been some under the tan powder beneath the wheels. Here she stopped and waited, looking around. She heard a noise behind her and noticed the gate behind her was grinding closed again in her rearview mirror. About halfway through that another metallic noise joined it, this time a creaking one. Lylanya's eyes followed the sound to find a large garage door opening near the stacked crates, and she squinted as if a sun itself burst between the widening gap to drown her vehicle in yellow. Three silhouettes bordered by streaks of light emerged and approached, clearing up and forming familiar shapes with each shadowy step; two armed turians and a salarian. One of the former approached Lylanya's open window, his proximity allowing the asari to make out the rest of his features now.

"Who are you?" he asked sharply, dark-brown mandibles flaring back and his gun held more firmly than before; raised a little, but not directed at her.

"I'm Kayoad's replacement," Lylanya answered, leaning back casually and slipping into a insouciant drawl. "He couldn't make it today... bad headache. They'd a called, but it was a last minute thing."

"Do you have authorisation?" the turian asked, the light flaring off the pale vertical stripes that draped down his face as he looked at her sideways.

"Sure... just a sec..."

Lylanya leaned over, pretending to look for something on the seat and around the dashboard. The turian lifted his gun, turning it towards the door. Lylanya made some feigned grumbles and mumbles related to searching, then made a noise of contentment.

"Was wondering where you guys got to... don't mind if I do."

She grabbed the packet of cigarettes, whisking one out and lighting it. She drew the roll of paper and dried leaves to her lips and inhaled deeply, sighing with ambrosial satisfaction. As she exhaled a cloud of smoke, the turian raised his gun even higher.

"If you don't find that authorisation in the next ten seconds, I _will_ shoot you," he warned.

"Okay, okay... keep your armour on," she grumbled, then leant over again and shuffled around some more, then with a "here we are" produced the card she'd taken from Kayoad. The turian examined it and then glared back up at her.

"This security card grants access of this facility to Kayoad, not you."

"Of course it does, they didn't have _time_ to make one for me, so they just gave me his one... they said you guys wouldn't care."

"Is there a problem, Varinus?" a nasal voice uttered as the salarian approached the turian. Unlike the turians who were decked out in Terrestrial armour, he wore a very tidy suit, and carried a datapad rather than an assault rifle.

"This asari claims to be Kayoad's replacement, but only has his security card and not one of her own."

"As I just said to him, he was indisposed at the last minute. There wasn't time to get a new one sorted out, 'cause they said you guys wouldn't want your order delayed by the formality and bureaucracy and the like."

"They'll do anything they can to avoid doing paperwork if they can avoid it," the salarian muttered, examining the card. "They know if they were late that I'd have them filing a whole _bunch_ of it if they were any more than an hour late with their deliveries. As it stands you're lucky and had ten minutes to spare before that time limit would have expired, so you're lucky."

He handed the identification back to Lylanya through her window. "This is acceptable. Just back into the garage and we'll unload the items into the garage."

"I must protest!" Varinus interjected. The salarian frowned at him.

"We don't have time for delays, Varinus! She _has_ his card, and where else would she have gotten it if she has it? It's not like she could have hijacked his truck on the way here and made all that up... nobody would be _stupid_ enough to believe that she could have done that! Now get ready to unload that cargo. We don't pay you to make the decisions around here, that's not what you're paid for."

"Yes sir," the turian said reluctantly. The salarian nodded curtly, then turned around. After taking only three steps he turned back again.

"You turians are just nervous about asari because of that asinine story from Galen about that asari exotic dancer the other night that's _clearly_ made you nervous," he added.

Lylanya grinned victoriously at Varinus who just sneered and then shook his head, by her estimation likely more at his salarian overseer than at her. Flicking the cigarette out the window, she began reversing the vehicle carefully around, backing it into the garage with the help of the two turians directing her. There she stopped and waited in the truck as they dealt with the cargo themselves, hoping like hell the crate with Yalo inside didn't feel wrong when they lifted it up. Thankfully they likely wouldn't notice, as she took note of a salarian in her mirror approaching with a forklift.

"These crates are _not_ in the right order!" she heard the salarian supervisor say sharply, making her heart skip a beat. "Just like every _other_ time." A sigh of relief from Lylanya joined one of frustration from the salarian. "Is it _so_ hard to organise things properly and put things in the right order?"

Lylanya continued to wait, feeling the bumps and jostling in the back and noticing how the truck gradually seemed to rise up with each group of crates loaded off of it. After about ten minutes they were done, and the salarian in charge made his way towards Lylanya's window. As he did though, she heard Yalo through her communicator.

"Don't go yet!"

That was all the quarian said in a rather urgent manner. She couldn't respond though, as the salarian was right there looking up at her.

"We're finished here, you may leave now that we're finished," he said as if shooing her away. "I'd say 'give my regards to Kayoad' but I never much cared for the lout, so I won't give you my regards to give to him."

"I've got a pick up to take with me as well though," Lylanya responded. "I assumed you knew about that."

"I wasn't aware of any outgoing deliveries," he frowned. "And I'm _in charge_ of all incoming and outgoing deliveries. There must be some mistake because otherwise I'd be aware of this."

"I'm pretty sure I've got something to pick up," Lylanya insisted. "Something from a doctor..." She trailed off and pick up a datapad from her seat, reading off of it. "A Doctor Haedian."

"What? Let me see that!"

The salarian snatched the pad out of her hand and looked at it. He narrowed his eyes at her and his lips curled up a bit. "This only has his _name_ on it."

"Yeah. I wrote it down in case I forgot," she shrugged. "It's not like that's orders or a manifest or anything."

"Then why'd you..." the salarian started, then sharply followed with, "Never mind! Because I _asked_ for it, right?" A deep sigh. "Even on my _homeworld_ I'm drowning in simpletons."

"I just know what I was told," Lylanya with another rise and fall of her shoulders.

"I haven't received word from Doctor Haedian about anything, and there are no packages or crates _ here_ to go out," the salarian said. "He never said anything to me."

"Look, you just said that there's a Doctor Haedian working here," the asari pointed out, the corners of her mouth turned up into a tiny smirk. "How would I know that unless he has something for me?"

"You raise an interesting point," the supervisor responded, looking at her sideways with one raised brow. He rubbed his chin, looking down for a brief moment. "I will look into this. After all, Haedian _did_ receive some important messages from both Minister Kalahao and Dalatrass Narra herself recently, and you _do_ raise an interesting point. Wait here until I return."

Lylanya peered into the reflection at her right to see the salarian stride over to the two turians, who were currently topping off the one incomplete pile with the final crate. He pointed at Varinus.

"You. Come with me," he barked at the turian, then turned his attention to the other. "You. Stay here and keep an eye on things here. Particularly the asari in the truck, keep an eye on her in particular."

The unnecessarily verbose salarian disappeared with Varinus from her mirror, while the remaining turian who had been mostly silent up until now nodded at his supervisor and slowly began to walk towards the front of the truck, drawing his weapon from his back again. While he wore the same armour as Varinus did, his face was unmarked by stripes and he was a dusty tan colour, almost identical to that of the ground at his feet. As he approached her, Lylanya heard a muffled voice in one ear. "Are you being watched still?" spoke the quarian.

Lylanya eyes flashed to the mirror to check the proximity of the turian and then she responded with a whisper. "Yes, but only by one armed turian guard who is approaching me now. The others are gone."

"I... I have a situation here that we didn't take into account despite our best efforts at planning for every eventuality."

Yalo's reply sounded like a rather embarrassed one. The turian was, however, right at Lylanya's window now. She decided perhaps the best solution was to do one of the things she did best: improvise and turn a potentially risky situation to her advantage.

"What is it?" she asked, speaking louder this time and looking directly at the turian. Yalo noticed the change in her voice and held off responding.

"Nothing really," the turian answered with a shrug and slight shake of the head. "Boss just told me to keep an eye on you."

"I'm stuck in the crate," Yalo answered in Lylanya's ear. She paused and thought, turning her head away from her observer slightly to regard him with one eye.

"And why is that, exactly?"

"I don't think he quite trusts you," the turian said. "Despite what he said to Varinus."

"Because they put at least a couple of crates on top of my one," Yalo sighed.

"Well... what do you expect me to do?" Lylanya asked. "Go and take away the crates I just brought here?"

"Yes," Yalo said, answered quickly this time to get in first.

"I have to admit, that would be rather silly," the turian said. "I personally think they're both being paranoid. You seem okay to me."

And there it was, that look in his eyes. She'd seen that look many times before, and knew then that the door was open, if only a crack. Lylanya smiled down at him, as sweetly as she could. She knew from experience that was often all it took to get the proverbial foot in the door.

"Would you like me to come closer then?"

The turian jumped a little at this while Yalo answered "yes" in Lylanya's ear.

"I... I guess I... wouldn't mind," the turian eventually answered. "I can keep a better eye on you that way too."

Lylanya smiled again, letting out a little giggle. "Oh, I bet you'd _like_ that."

"Sure would," Yalo said.

"Uh-huh," was all the turian could utter, his eyes growing wide. He didn't seem to notice, or at least care, that her accent had completely slipped since that first saccharine smile. She slowly opened the door and slid off the seat onto the ground before him, then slunk up to him. He looked her up and down and then spoke.

"Is it normal for asari truck drivers to wear armour like that?"

His voice was a little shaky, and the question didn't seem suspicious at all. If anything he seemed genuinely intrigued by it, probably a little too much if anything. She took this opportunity to pose a little, then for added effect ran her hands down the front of her body from her neck to her thighs.

"I just like to be safe and secure, just in case of unforeseen circumstances," Lylanya replied. "One can never be too careful, especially with big tough men with guns around."

Yalo just listened silently to this while she gave the turian a playful poke in the chest with one index finger, making him jump a little bit. His weapon remained casually lowered still though. Not removing her finger from contact with him, she ran it down the front of his armour and then extended the rest of her fingers and stepped forward to brush her palm across the glossy ceramic protection.

"I like what you're in too," she said, biting her bottom lip slightly as her sapphire eyes stared into his own iron-grey ones. "Is it as comfortable as it is stylish?"

"No, it's not, it's very cramped in here actually," Yalo responded in her ear. The turian was stammering nothing intelligible for a while before he managed to get out some recognisable words.

"I-I-It's not b-bad. Some... sometimes it starts to feel uncomfortable after a long day."

"Is it uncomfortable now?"

"Yes!" Yalo answered from his box.

"A... a little," the turian said.

"Well then... maybe its about time I got you out of it then," Lylanya breathed, leaning into the guard.

"I-I-I don't think that's a good idea right now," the turian said, taking a step back but finding himself unable to go back any further, despite there being nothing behind him but flat dusty ground for at least a dozen metres. For some reason the asari's eyes were stopping him from retreating and keeping him there, as if the bright blue irises themselves were orbs of biotic energy holding him in stasis. Even when she closed them he was held in place, her face now so close he could feel her warm breath against his chin with each word she spoke.

"Relax, you _will_ enjoy this," she cooed. "Just let go and..." Her eyelids darted up as she paused, revealing obsidian eyes and finished her sentence. "...embrace eternity!"

Night seemed to become day for a split second for the turian and then all reality left him. Lylanya's mind's eye swam through his thoughts, drifting easily through the ones on the surface before delving just a little deeper. The experience wasn't a harsh invasion against the turian's will or mind or anything like the mental equivalent of hacking or decrypting a computer or interface terminal. Through her prior attempts at seduction, Lylanya had managed to open his mind and allow her to roam freely through his thoughts and memories. His mind was just as susceptible to her now as it was just before the connection took place, and all she had to do was subtly suggest and ask his mind what she wanted to know and it would take her there. There were limits though. The turian's mind was only so open, and there would be barriers up she wouldn't be able to penetrate, or at least not without a great deal of mental effort that would take time and a great deal of mental will, and could do him harm in the process. Had he been somebody she had gotten to know well over a long period of time who had come to trust her she would have almost free reign of his thoughts, but since he was somebody she only recently met that she'd only been able to gain easy access to using her charms as means of a key, she would only have limited access. She would know resistance when she hit it, and through practice she had a pretty good idea where such resistance would lie, though it is something that can alter and depend on an individual. Most people in this turian's line of work would still be more likely to keep their more personal thoughts and memories hidden away, but that's not what she was after, and most thoughts about one's occupation would likely be floating amongst the surface thoughts, with the more important ones not far beneath them. This made Lylanya's mental trip more akin to that of a mental vacation.

When the vacation was over the turian blinked at her, but didn't even manage to speak a single word before the butt of his own gun rammed up into his jaw and the taste of his own blood was the last sense he perceived. The salarian who had been driving the forklift earlier ran over, making an urgent query as to what was going on, but Lylanya pulsed with biotic energy and thrust her left hand out to propel him backwards into one of the piles of crates, which where heavy and sturdy enough to take the impact without much more than the top half of them swaying a little before clacking back into formation. He flopped to the ground, but began to get up again, one hand going to the back of his head as he groaned in pain. He looked up only to see the turian guard's assault rifle darting at his face barrel-first, briefly feeling a surge of pain between the eyes before passing out at the foot of the crates.

Lylanya knew she didn't have much time to find Yalo and get him out before the supervisor and Varinus returned in probably a rather agitated state, which the presence of two bodies would only serve to catalyse. Unfortunately the salarian witness had complicated matters and as such their plan had gone off the rails. She may have been able to talk her way out of the situation with the turian and claimed she'd knocked him out in self defense when he'd tried to get too friendly or something, but explaining away both unconscious employees would be trickier. The best she could hope for now would be hiding him in Yalo's crate once she had the quarian out of there and hoping he simply wasn't missed. It didn't take long to find said crate, and she used her biotics to carefully remove the two stacked on top of it and grant Yalo freedom.

"You don't have much time," she told him as soon as he sat up. "From what I got from the guard's mind the place Haedian is located in isn't that far, so that annoying salarian and his turian lackey will probably be back any minute."

"About time you got me out," Yalo uttered, standing up and stepping out of the container. "It was getting cramped in there."

"Well, well, well... we don't have a rare case of a claustrophobic quarian, do we?" the asari smirked.

"That's pretty much impossible," Yalo said contempt. "I was just annoyed because of the inconvenience. What now then, since our plan has been messed up somewhat?"

"I can sort this mess out," Lylanya said, her eyes drifting past Yalo to the floored salarian, but even she couldn't hide from him the fact that she wasn't entirely convinced this time. "I got a brief look at the place from the turian over there. Just go through that door and then go immediately left, then take the second door on your right, then the fifth door on the left from there. Beyond there he doesn't know as its restricted, but the restricted area itself is apparently fairly small in comparison to the overall building size. The main issue will be avoiding the others in there."

"It's a shame you can't go, you're better at this sneaking around stuff than I am," Yalo said. "Especially with your little toy."

"Yes I am, but _you're_ better at hacking your way past secure locations and decrypting terminals," Lylanya countered, stooping to start dragging the salarian into the now empty container. "And I suspect that will be far more useful. Now _go_... while you still have time."

Yalo nodded at this, turning towards the door she had indicated earlier. Opening it a crack he listened for a few seconds, then peered in before disappearing inside entirely and out of Lylanya's sight. The asari sighed with relief that he had at least got in without detection and before the others had returned, then sighed again as she dropped the salarian into the crate. Unsheathing a slender dagger from her right thigh that until then merely resembled a piece of her armour, she poked a couple of holes in the side of the container so its inhabitant would be able to breathe, hoping they would be large enough to give him sufficient air yet small enough to not be noticed. Now she just had to rely on them finding him before he starved to death. Sometimes she couldn't decide whether avoiding killing those in your way was harder than simply doing it, but she'd killed enough in the past to know now that it wasn't her way. Not any more. And the thing that concerned her was that it was a sentiment Yalo didn't necessarily seem to share.


	11. Chapter 11

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 11**

While it had the appearance of a run-down warehouse on the outside, on the inside the facility more resembled a modern hospital. Not that Yalo had ever been inside a hospital before, with the closest thing being the medical bay aboard the _Lerta_ he'd been to a few times for minor infections. The hallways seemed sleek and clean, with bright white floor covering and equally pearly walls and ceilings. Yalo took note of their reflective nature, knowing that while sneaking around it could give him away, even if he himself couldn't be seen directly. On the other hand this was something that worked both ways, and Yalo could use it to check around corners without the risk of physically poking his head around them. Thankfully the lighting wasn't particularly outstanding, probably mostly due to the lack of windows and the fact that any that did exist were covered up from the inside, so that gave Yalo at least some advantage.

Checking the second corner quickly, Yalo flashed his omni-tool active and waved it around for the few seconds. Like he had done when the truck entered the place from the outside, he made sure any security cameras in the immediate vicinity would be out of commission for at least the next minute or two. He hadn't been sure if it had worked from within the crate earlier, but he hadn't heard any alert yet, so assumed if there were any cameras he'd got to them or security was simply being ignored for the moment. With the area clear, Yalo quickly dashed down the corridor.

_Fifth door on the right_, Yalo remembered._ But it's restricted from there, so I'll likely need to hack through_.

Yalo had just passed the third door when he stopped in his tracks. He could hear footsteps; two sets of them. He turned around and the door behind him didn't appear to be locked, though at the same time he had no idea what would be on the other side. The steps were getting closer, so he had to risk it. He hit the green panel to the door's right and it whirred and hissed open, allowing him to whisk himself inside and close it again. Yalo didn't take much note of what was in the room, though it was hard to when it was completely dark in there. He could sense it was fairly small, but at the moment he was paying too much attention to the approaching sounds beyond the door. As they passed by he heard them speaking and recognised the voices.

"...problem with this whole thing is the lack of communication, that's the problem!" the salarian delivery supervisor ranted.

"I still think that asari was trying to pull something," Varinus responded. "She would have at least had a manifest or some..."

Their conversation muffled and trailed off again as he heard them round the corner at the end of the hall. Yalo sighed with relief, then switched on the light and took in his surroundings properly. It appeared to be some kind of preparation station, with lab coats hanging from hooks around the walls, long-sleeved salarian gloves in a pile atop a series of sinks, several lockers and a couple of large clothing bins. Most importantly there was nobody else in here at the moment.

_At least if I get caught and have to take somebody out, I can hide the body in here_, he thought, noting the laundry hampers.

He was about to turn back to the door but stopped, noticing something above the hampers on the far wall: a vent cover. And judging from its positioning, it looked like it was heading towards the restricted area he had to get to. If he could crawl in through there, he could avoid having to hack the security door entirely, and on top of that the option would be far stealthier. There would likely be only just enough room to move in there, but he was a quarian: he was used to small, cramped spaces. Perhaps not as much as some of his kin, but he'd done a few minor pieces of maintenance upon the _Lerta_ along with his sister in vents, tubes and conduits.

Climbing atop the hampers, Yalo reached up and carefully eased the vent cover out of the wall; inching the left side out a little, then the right, then the left again, and then finally the right a second time as the fixture came free. He hung the object on a nearby coat-hook fixed to the wall nearby by jamming the hook in a gap between two of the louvers then peered inside the shaft itself. It went dark from about a metre in, so where it went was a mystery. Nonetheless, Yalo reached in and hauled himself inside the duct. Yalo powered up the light on his helmet, just enough to give him a small amount of vision about a foot ahead of himself so he didn't end up pulling himself face-first into a wall or corner or in case there was a sudden drop. After all, if anybody was out there he wouldn't want their attention to be drawn to a bright light shining out of the vent-holes he was passing by.

Yalo found himself at an intersection forcing him either left or right only a couple of metres in and made a turn left, hoping that it would take him where he wanted to go. He came across another passage leading left again fairly soon, and assumed that led to whatever was behind the fourth door in the last corridor he was in. Moving further down the shaft led him to a corner that forced him to either turn right or turn back, so right he went. After about a minute of crawling he found another vent cover on his left, so he stopped, dimmed his light and peered out through the metal slats.

The room beyond was larger than any of the others he'd seen in here thus far, and while still dark at least had some illumination from the many monitors, computer terminals and holographic displays in the place. Yalo could see three doors leading into the room: one from the direction he'd crawled from, one on the wall opposite that and another on the wall opposite the one he was in. There was likely a door beneath him too he guessed, given that the room seemed completely symmetrical. The various computers and terminals were all situated in the middle of the room and seemed rather clumped together, since the walls and the area around them were pretty sparse and wide, Yalo suspected so that objects could be easily moved through that area without anything getting in the way.

_They'd be able to bring those crates through here without any problems_, Yalo thought.

Beyond that there were some coloured lines along the floor that split off from each other to lead through the different doors, and there was a desk and some monitors near the door on the wall behind him. Behind this desk sat the only person in the room: a rather bored looking salarian with a dark-brown complexion -save for a red chin and throat- wearing light armour. Unlike the dark brown protective covering the turians who were part of The Terrestrial wore, his was a bright white with black trim and no logo on it, complete with the design feature Yalo liked to think of as 'The Salarian Handle' on the chest. Ever since meeting Intarr he imagined the large krogan picking two salarians up by them and then bashing their heads together over his own. The idea amused him, even though he knew it shouldn't. The problem now was getting into the room without the salarian noticing. Sure, he could keep going and see where the vents led him, but he was pretty sure there'd be at least something of use on the computers down below.

_Find somewhere else_, a voice in the back of his head said. _It's not worth the risk, there's bound to be other terminals around here and if there isn't you can always come back_. The voice was right, so Yalo sighed in temporary defeat and carefully crawled on.

The next room looked rather interesting. It was three times as tall as the previous ones, and consisted of a large tubular object in the centre with a console before it and several other terminals around two of the walls. There was a platform elevator on the left side that appeared to simply take a person up to the next two floors, which basically consisted of nothing more than walkways surrounding whatever the cylindrical object in the middle was. It looked like metal and/or ceramic at the bottom third, but the middle portion was transparent and there was some kind of protruding metal prongs poking down into it from the ceiling. The diameter of it had to at least be fifteen to twenty metres, and if there was anything inside it Yalo couldn't see it from his position. This place was well lit by bright lights on the ceiling and upper walls, but there was nobody in the room using the object. There were two doors, one that led back to a small corridor that linked it to the previous room Yalo had observed and one on the opposite wall in the direction the ventilation shaft continued. Yalo thought about investigating this room, but was first curious about where an intersection in the ducts just ahead and on his right might lead.

His curiosity paid off. The next room he found was a small, empty office, with a desk and chair and a terminal sitting upon the former. There were another couple of seats and a few filing cabinets, but beyond that the room was fairly simple and neat. Yalo waved his omni-tool to disable any cameras the office may have, then carefully removed the vent cover and lowered it softly to the ground as much as he could without falling out. Crawling out, Yalo approached the desk, taking in his surroundings properly. The only door in was locked judging from the red light on the panel to its right, but all the same Yalo took his gun and placed it on the desk facing the lone access, just in case anybody tried to come in while he was at work. Sneaking inside in the middle of the night was mostly a convenience due to the delivery, but it also had its other advantages.

Sure enough, activating the console revealed that it was password-locked, so Yalo's omni-tool joined the holographic interface in lighting up the otherwise darkened room. The security was fairly heavy in the system, but Yalo was an expert, and thanks to the enhancements on Linna's omni-tool he made short work of anything that got in his way. The information was good too, and he managed to get a complete layout of the facility as well as a list of the personnel and to which departments they were assigned. It seems Dr. Haedian was the head of a department called 'Biological Research and Analysis' and was, funnily enough, assigned to two areas called the 'Biological Research Laboratory' and 'Biological Testing Stations' that weren't too far away.

_And what exactly is this research and analysis all for?_ Yalo wondered, as he began to dig deeper. With a little more effort, Yalo came across something that made him stop and take a step back. He leaned forward and read the information again, just to be sure.

"Keelah!" he exclaimed for behind his visor. "This is... perfect. This is _beyond_ perfect."

Yalo realised he'd not only used an exclamation he tried not to since leaving The Flotilla, but that he'd spoken aloud. Shaking his head as if to dislodge his stupidity, he quickly downloaded some crucial information to his omni-tool, memorised the layout to make sure it was correct, then logged out of the system and shut it down. Now he had a choice: go directly there and hope to avoid being seen, or take the vents again and take a longer, more uncomfortable but less risky route. He regarded the opening in the wall and sighed -he really didn't want to have to go back in there. He only had to go down two corridors to a room about twenty metres away, and it was night and the place seemed virtually deserted. He thought he might as well risk it, even if the ducts had served him well so far.

Yalo unlocked the door with a tangerine flash from his arm, then peered out both ways. The coast was clear, so he carefully snuck out, reactivating his omni-tool and waving it around to disrupt any security cameras along the way and hoping nobody was around the corner who might wonder what the orange glow was. The quarian quickened his pace, seeing as the entire place seemed devoid of staff. He switched off his omni-tool as he approached the door he needed, having noticed it wasn't locked. Pressing the button, the panel bleep and the door clunked and whisked open.

* * *

Yalo stepped inside, finding himself in a large a room about thirty metres or so long and probably just over half that wide. It was filled with various pieces of laboratory equipment, with a few computer terminals and a rectangular bay in the middle surrounded by a glowing blue forcefield. There was also a desk with a computer terminal to the far right side of the wall, at which sat a tan-hued salarian with dark grey eyes; his face lit up by the holographic image before him. He looked up with a frown at Yalo.

"Who are you? What are you..."

Dr. Haedian trailed off, one eye seeming to get larger while the other shrunk as he twisted his head to the side slightly.

"Wait, I know you! You're that quarian who was with those krogan!"

"That's right," Yalo said, walking slowly towards the doctor as if approaching a cornered beast. "I've come in search of you. Lylanya's here too."

"The asari? What does _she_ want? Something about that message I got a few days ago?" A pause. "How did you even get _in_ here?"

"We snuck in. We hijacked a delivery truck and then I snuck in through the ventilation shaft past your security and into the restricted area."

"So _that's_ why that redundantly verbose idiot came here asking me about some kind of outgoing package," Haedian realised. "But enough of that... why are you here? What do you want _me_ for?"

"I know what you're working on," Yalo said straightforwardly. "I want you and I want the research and the prototype you have."

"Assuming you're telling the truth, what makes you _possibly_ think that I'd be so willing to just go along with this?" A pause. "Or are you planning on holding me at gunpoint and _forcing_ me into it?"

"Recognition and credits," Yalo responded with confidence. "You're working along with a bunch of other scientists on a top secret project for The Salarian Union. This isn't going to get you fame or money. You're not going to be considered up there amongst the best and brightest of the salarian science community, because you're just one of many working on something that'll always be under the rug your government keeps it under." A pause. "But if you _take_ the data and come with me, we can use and sell this technology, and _you'll_ be the one that gets all the credit and fame for it. _Your_ name will be forever etched in history as the mind behind one of the greatest technological leaps the galaxy has seen in years."

"Except for three things, quarian. First, I'll be a traitor to The Salarian Union and thus considered a traitor to all salarians everywhere. Secondly, I'm not the project leader, just the head of the Biological Research division. My expertise only covers about a quarter of the total project... a third at the most. And finally, I've already hit the silent alarm. Armed guards will be here soon."

"Don't do this, doctor!" Yalo said urgently, expecting the main door to open and guns to be trained on him any moment. "The Salarian Union won't admit to what happened, since the project is secret and it would be too embarrassing to admit they lost it and you. I also know that this project is being kept secret from The Council."

Doctor Haedian narrowed his eyes, and Yalo nodded in response. "That's right. While you probably only intend to use this for colonisation, the potential for its use as a weapon is viable. The Council wouldn't approve of it, despite its intent. On top of that, they would likely want to share the knowledge with the other races, which would no longer give the salarians an edge out there."

"Stop right there!" Yalo heard from behind him, and he raised his hands after looking over his shoulder and observing two salarians with pistols pointed at him. One of them was the guard he had seen sitting at the desk only moments earlier.

"Put those guns down, it was a false alarm," Haedian said with vexation. "I'm tired from working all night and accidentally hit the wrong button. Go and shine your guns or something... I have work to do."

"Who is this then?" the closer one asked, flicking his head in Yalo's direction. Haedian let out a frustrated sigh.

"Are you new here, or just stupid?_ This_ is a quarian I brought in for biological studies related to the project. I can't do proper tests and research on how it will effect quarian physiology and genetics without a test subject. Now please _leave_... we have many important tests to still do."

The guards lowered their weapons slowly, looking at each other with puzzled expressions. Both simply said "yes Doctor" and left the room. As the door slid shut behind them, Yalo lowered his arms and cocked his head at Haedian.

"You seem to know quite a lot, quarian," Haedian sighed. "And a lot of what you say is right. But that still doesn't negate the fact that I'm only a small part of this overall project. That and its not even finished, there's still months of work left to go, despite the fact that we have a small working prototype. I am curious as to exactly what you plan to do with this knowledge though... assuming I _did_ agree to go with you."

"That depends," Yalo said. "At first I was just planning on selling your services and whatever this was to somebody with a lot of credits. But after seeing for myself what you were working on, things started working in my mind and my plans changed. This is now something I can use myself for my own purposes and not just a means of gaining a _lot_ of credits. Assuming it works how I think it does. It's basically a super fast terraformer, right?"

"Your analogy there is beyond inadequate," Haedian responded as if insulted. "It's much more than that. To put it in layman's terms, it contains a unique scanning device that analyses a planet in every possible manner that one would need to know in order to terraform it. Not only does it scan the planet itself for its composite of elements and minerals, it takes into account the size of the planet, its density and gravity, any satellites it may have, the topographical features, its distance from the star it orbits, its orbit itself, what type of star it is, other planets in its solar system, and so forth until it paints a complete picture of exactly what would be needed to terraform the planet in order to colonise it. It then calculates the perfect mathematical formulas automatically using the V.I. system within to do this the quickest and most efficient way possible. It technically does nothing that hasn't been done for years already for the purposes of terraforming and colonisation, it just does in mere months or only a couple of years what would otherwise take decades. If course, it could also be used for the _opposite_ effect, by scanning and evaluating a planet and ascertaining the most subtle way of creating planet wide destruction with minimal effort. But for that to be a problem the device would still have to be in a planet's orbit for days without being detected, which would be highly unlikely."

"That's all I needed to know," Yalo said, and the salarian could hear the quarian's grin even if he couldn't see it.

"Wait a minute... I know what this is. You want the device for yourself. For the quarians. That's it, isn't it... you want to use it to help create a new homeworld for your people."

Yalo was silent for a few seconds, looking around as if to find help from somebody else, yet finding none. Eventually he just caved.

"That's part of it, yes." The quarian paused, his voice becoming emotionless. "There's more to it than that though."

"Oh?" Haedian asked curiously. Yalo abruptly became evasive and impatient.

"Look... I'll tell you later, once we're out of here and on the ship. I owe the others an explanation too. That is assuming you'll come with me?"

Haedian brought one hand up to his chin as he leant back against the wall behind him and his eyes narrowed in thought.

"I must admit, the prospect of actually getting credit for this is very appealing. For too long I've been overshadowed by lesser minds like Finnigus and Solus, merely because of the nature of my employment. To succeed we would need not only my data on the project, but the prototype itself and data from the other two departments and from the project lead. We would then want to wipe it all to ensure we had the only copies of all the data. Some may be backed up, but I can take all mine with me, which will put them back significantly even on the unlikely chance they manage to recover their own stuff." He looked up at Yalo. "Wait, you said 'others' before. Lylanya you mentioned, but who else is there with you?"

"One of..." Yalo sighed. "One of the krogan." A pause. "Intarr, to be exact."

"The krogan you hunted me down with?" Haedian exclaimed, his eyes seeming to want to burst out of their sockets. "The one who shot me, and then you later betrayed so I could escape?"

"It's complicated," Yalo answered, rubbing his arm awkwardly. "Let's just say he's not exactly familiar with some of the events that went on."

"So it seems," Haedian said, his brow raising as he said the last word. "So then how do I know you won't betray _me_ if it conveniences you to do so?"

"You don't," Yalo admitted. "And if it came to that, I would. At least you know that. But keep in mind that I have no interest in fame or credits beyond the ones I need to save my people. And if this all works out, I won't even need them. I'll just use the information on the project itself. If you agree to this, of course. Think about it... you wouldn't even need to develop it fully, just sell the research and the prototype and offer your services to continue your work on it."

"Very well, I accept," Haedian nodded, and he sat down at his console and began running his hands across the glowing interface. "I haven't exactly been happy here, and it would be extremely interesting if I could manage to get it to make a suitable planet for your people to live on. But we must hurry if we want to get the data before the others wake up and begin their work."

"Good," Yalo said with a firm nod, clapping his hands together. "What do we need to do then?"

"I've already begun to download all the data from my own terminal into an optical storage device," he answered. "You'll need to do the same in the other departments and in the project lead's office. Do you know where they are?"

"I believe I found the lead's office and already hacked the terminal. That's how I found your location."

"Good," Haedian said as he handed Yalo some OSD's and the quarian slipped them into a pouch on his hip. "In the meantime, I'll get the prototype itself since I have access to it already."

"How big is this prototype?"

"One quarter the size of what the final design is intended to be. It was made for small scale direct testing in a controlled environment, while the real thing would need to be far larger in order to deal with the appropriate scale. Even then there would be a limit to the size of the planet this device would be feasible to function with, but its not far beyond that limit that a planet's mass becomes too big to realistically be properly colonised anyway. Needless to say, it's not so prodigious and ponderous that a mass-grav lift wouldn't be able to tow it."

"Okay. Where will we rendezvous, and how will we actually get out of here without drawing attention?" Yalo posed.

"When you're done, come back here. I'll bring the prototype here and we'll put it and you inside a container. I'll take it to the warehouse and say that this is the package that I had originally intended to be picked up, and that the previous altercation was a misunderstanding and I really _did_ have a package, it just wasn't ready at the time."

"Uh-oh!" Yalo called out.

"Uh... oh?"

"Lylanya. I have no idea what happened to her after the others got back. Especially since she had to knock out two people so that I could get in here. I should contact her and make sure she's okay."

"Don't be a fool!" Haedian snapped reaching over to grab Yalo's arm before he could open communications. "If she _isn't_ okay and they captured her, then they in all probability have her communications device. If you contact her they'll know something is up, especially since we don't use comms in this place ourselves for security reasons. The observation that no alarm has been raised yet means that all they've done is either tell her to vacate the premises or locked her away somewhere."

"Where would they put her if the latter was the case?" Yalo asked.

"We don't actually have any holding cells," Haedian admitted, rubbing his chin and tapping one foot. "They'd probably just lock her in a storage room or one of the old empty sleeping quarters nobody uses." The salarian frowned. "But this matters not... we have more important things to do now."

"That's true, but if we get to the warehouse and she's not there waiting, we're going to have to find her."

"I'm surprised given your previous track record that you wouldn't just leave her behind for 'the greater good' or something," Haedian answered snidely. "But very well, if you feel we must. But I suggest we get moving."

* * *

The two left the room in two separate directions; Yalo heading right and back towards the office he'd been in earlier, while Haedian took a left. It didn't take Yalo long to get back and reacquaint himself with the layout of the place again and find the other two major departments: Geological and Astronomical. He then downloaded the remaining project data from the main terminal onto the OSD, which thanks to his earlier hacking success was effortless. When that was done he deleted the data from the system, then as an additional measure transferred a nasty quarian computer virus to ensure any attempts to retrieve the data would be as difficult as possible. Astronomical was the next closest department, not that much farther than Haedian's had been, just down a few corridors to his right rather than his left. Waving his omni-tool all the way to take out surveillance cameras as usual, Yalo found the department he needed and unlocked the door.

Like most of the rooms he'd been in it was fairly dark, though there was some illumination from what appeared to be a giant holographic galaxy map rotating in the centre of the two-storey high room. This made it easy to find the main terminal, which was actually attached to and part of the controls of the star chart itself. There were lots of other computers and electronic devices around, but Yalo had no idea what they were for or what they did, but he could tell they were expensive.

_I'm surprised he's agreed to come with me at all_, Yalo thought. _It'll be hard for anybody to beat this level of state of the art equipment_.

Yalo hacked the computer as quickly as he could, which still took him a while. There was a lot of data in this terminal too, which only made things take even longer for it to download to the OSDs. As before Yalo deleted the data from the computer when he was done and put a virus in, which led to the galaxy map disappearing and leaving only Yalo's omni-tool to light the room. He quickly left and proceeded to the third and final department, which was unfortunately a fair distance away. Yalo had to navigate six long corridors, lighting the way and darkening the cameras with his omni-tool as usual. He encountered nobody the entire time, and he wasn't sure whether to think that was a good thing or a bad thing. It certainly made him feel uneasy, though at the same time with each passing second he was closer to success.

Yalo arrived to find the door unlocked, which made him wonder if anybody was in there working late like Haedian had been. He could see through the frosted glass that the lights were on inside, but it wasn't translucent enough for him to be able to tell whether there was anybody inside; everything beyond was a blurred mass of various colours. To be safe, he drew his pistol carefully, letting it unfold and snap to readiness as the door blooped open. Yalo's pistol entered the room first, with its bearer following and happy to see that there was nobody within. Like most of the rooms he'd been through, the walls had the same plain, reflective surfaces in bright white and the floors were smooth and yet not slippery to walk upon. Like Haedian's lab, this one also had a few terminals and lots of scientific equipment around, but it also had several large containers at one end of the room on a series of study shelves. In the centre were four large glass tanks filled with what just appeared to be dirt of slightly different shades and hues, each with a tube extending from the top of them to the ceiling where they all ran along it to meet another large machine at the back wall. This machine had a large console as part of it, and since it was the most prominent one in the room Yalo decided it was probably the one he was after.

Yalo interfaced with the terminal, hacked it and began downloading all the relevant data be could to the next OSD. He guessed he was about halfway through when he heard the door behind him open again and he spun around to see a large crate sitting on a mass-grav lift entering the room. Thinking it was Doctor Haedian having tracked him down with the prototype, Yalo raised the gun back up that he'd trained on the door, only to find that the two salarians that entered with it were ones he'd never seen before.

"What the-! Who are you?" the one pushing the grav-lift said.

Yalo didn't think he had much choice now, so he squared his pistol at the salarian and fired. There was a burst of dark green at his throat, and his scream of pain soon became a gurgle as he brought one hand up to the fatal wound and reached out towards a fictional saviour with the other. He stumbled forward against the handle of the grav-lift, hitting the forward control and sending it whizzing across the room into a table filled with various scientific equipment, a lot of which contained glass. There was a thud and then a ringing clatter and tinkling of breaking and falling metal and glass. In reaction the other salarian took a step back in horror, looked at Yalo for a moment and then fled, calling for help at the top of his lungs. Yalo took a shot at him, but he had already been standing in the doorway when he'd made the first shot, so it hadn't taken long for his intended target to disappear on him.

Yalo uttered a quarian curse into his chest and took off after the escapee as fast as he could. The salarian's yelling was a pretty clear indication of which direction he was heading, which was in the opposite direction that Yalo had entered the place from. Yalo thought he saw his target in the distance and fired again, only to notice his mistake when the shot struck the wall.

_Just a reflection!_ he chastised himself mentally.

Yalo swung around the next corner and saw the salarian about to reach a door at the end of the hallway. Without taking too much care at aiming, Yalo fired his weapon and saw the material of his prey's clothing shred near the centre of his back shortly before he stumbled and fell forwards, his head hitting the door on the way down. His target was down, but Yalo knew the damage had likely already been done. Without wasting time to see if his target was actually dead, Yalo raced back to the main Geological Lab and quickly ejected the OSD from the console, despite knowing full well that he hadn't quite gotten all of the data. There wasn't time to implant the virus either, so Yalo simply flashed his omni-tool at terminal to overload it, summoning a spray of sparks and a small cloud of smoke from the piece of equipment.

Yalo took off for Haedian's lab again, hoping the doctor would be there waiting with the prototype and that he could get there before any more salarians were alerted to his presence. He still had another three hallways to traverse when he was forced to stop dead in his tracks and dart back around the last corner he'd taken, as he heard a door opening up ahead and some muffled voices. There were at least two salarians and they were talking about finding him and splitting up. He could see in the wall the reflection of one approaching his position, and he was hoping that his own reflection wouldn't be seen too. Unlike the two workers he'd dealt with earlier though, this one was armed and kitted out in armour. He had to take this guy out, but as quietly as possible. So for now, just around the corner, he waited.

The salarian reached the turning point and twisted with shock to see Yalo right there. The quarian lunged out with a fist and caught the guard across the jaw, sending him stumbling into the wall to his left. Acting fast before he could make too much noise, Yalo charged him and caught his throat in his hands, then squeezed it tight and pinned him against the wall. The salarian gurgled and tried to get out some words, but didn't manage to get out anything beyond some raspy, unintelligible and panicked noises before the gun fell from his fingers and his eyes rolled into the back of his skull. As he went limp, Yalo let go of his throat, and for good measure pulled his face forward before thrusting the back of his head into the wall behind and leaving him in an undignified heap on the floor. Checking both corridors at the intersection carefully, Yalo continued sneaking towards Haedian's lab.

* * *

Managing to avoid another patrol of two armed security personnel by ducking into a room he recalled as simply being a supply closet, Yalo made it back to Haedian's lab without any other problems. There the doctor was waiting with a large crate on a grav-lift as promised, but he looked more than a little irritated.

"About time you got here, quarian!" he muttered. "I assume all the guards up and about is _your_ doing?"

"An unavoidable mishap," Yalo sighed. "But I at least managed to get most of the data before I had to run. I'm surprised this room wasn't under guard, especially with you in here."

"It was," Haedian responded, and he stepped aside and pointed to his right at the floor behind a large terminal. Yalo stepped closer and peeked around to see two unconscious guards lying there.

"They were sent to guard me," Haedian explained. "Terrible shame they had chosen to do so just as I was mixing some chemicals that happen to release several toxic gasses, including chlorine and carbon monoxide. Guess I forgot to mention that, along with the fact I only had one mask."

"We need to get out of here quickly," Yalo said. The salarian nodded, opening the crate.

"Crawl inside, I'll take you out along with it as we had planned. There's enough room for both you and the prototype. Just try not to touch it while you're in there."

"What if they stop you and want to take a look inside?" Yalo asked. Haedian sighed and rolled his eyes.

"They trust my judgment at this place and I outrank all the security personnel. They have to follow _my_ orders, and if I tell them I'm taking something away for security reasons they'll just have to trust me. Now stop arguing and yet inside!"

Yalo held his hands up as if to say "I just asked, take it easy" and then stepped into the container. He didn't know what the salarian scientist was so concerned about when it came to him touching it, since the object was wrapped and packed in something that looked like foam rubber. It was a bit of the tight squeeze, but Yalo managed to curl up and fit inside, and soon all was dark as Haedian closed the lid on him. Yalo felt the initial jerk of movement as Haedian started the journey, but the ride itself was incredibly smooth to the point that Yalo couldn't even really tell if he was moving or not. Things seemed fine for the first couple of minutes, but then he heard a muffled voice in the distance call out and felt Haedian stop in his tracks with a jerk.

"Sorry Doctor, but the corridors are off-limits until we can catch the assailant," a voice said, getting slightly louder with each word. "Weren't two guards assigned to protect you anyway?"

"I told them to guard the equipment in the lab," Haedian responded in his usual miffed way. "I have a piece of important equipment that I need to get out of here. I'm armed, so can take care of myself."

"Sorry, but the whole place is on lockdown. Nobody gets in or out until we catch the intruder."

"All the more reason for me to get this out of here," Haedian retorted. "If I take this outside when the intruder is trapped in here, he can't get it now, can he? If it stays _here_, then there's a greater chance he'll get hold of it."

"I... suppose you're right," the voice answered sceptically.

"Of _course_ I'm right!" Haedian muttered. "That's why I'm the brilliant scientist and you're just some gun-polishing toady doing the work usually reserved for braindead krogan who think 'argon' is the state you reach when you run out of things to shoot. Now move aside before this assailant of yours sneaks up on one or both of us because _you_ were messing about."

"Yes, sir," the voice responded, and there was a slight bump as they went on their way again. It didn't take long before they made it to the exit where Yalo had come in, and the Doctor used his authorisation to open the door and push the crate outside. As he locked the door behind himself again, he was approached by the supervisor.

"You can't leave, this place is off-limits, Haedian!" he grumbled. "Don't you know that we're in lockdown until they find this intruder, that's why you can't leave."

"Oh, shove a krogan quad in your tedious, word-wasting mouth, Chortan!" Yalo heard Haedian snort. "I have a container to go out, and I don't have time for you to waste hours on end just saying 'hello' to me repeatedly. You take orders from me, and _I_ say this container is going out."

"In _this_ delivery truck?" Chortan asked, just as two salarian workers and Varinus approached to see what was going on. Haedian frowned.

"No, I was going to get _you_ to carry it on your back and run all the way to Jaëto. Of _course_ in this truck!"

"The driver is a chief suspect with regards to the intruder," Varinus interjected. "Unless you can drive it yourself, this truck isn't going anywhere. Not that we'd be opening the back of it to load your container any time soon either."

"Why not?"

"Because that's where we put her," Varinus explained, cocking his head towards the vehicle. "Seemed the best option at the time. I think she tried using her biotics to get out, but so far all they've done is make the thing rock a bit."

"Can't you put her somewhere else?" Haedian muttered.

"Like where?" Varinus replied laconically.

"I dunno... throw her in an empty crate and seal it or something," Haedian said flippantly, one hand swishing the air in a gesture of indifference. The turian seemed to smile, or at least as close as a turian could get to one, looking across at Chortan.

"I wouldn't mind doing that. The bitch could use some time in a small, enclosed space after what she did to the others."

"Good, hurry up then," Haedian said. "Get your gun pointed at that door and I'll open it up."

Varinus gave a firm nod, raising his Banshee assault rifle to aim it directly at the door. Haedian pushed the mass-grav lift closer to the truck, then let go of it to unlock the rear doors, revealing a rather annoyed looking Lylanya standing there with her arms crossed. She looked down at Haedian who simply gave her a wink the others couldn't see. She didn't acknowledge it in any way.

"Okay, little miss infiltrator smuggler, out you come," Haedian ordered. "And if we see so much as a _spark_ from you, Varinus here will empty his entire block into you."

Lylanya scowled, raising her arms and stepping out onto the dusty surface. Her eyes moved from Haedian to Varinus.

"That's it. Move that pretty blue ass of yours this way," the turian instructed with a flick of his gun. "We'll see if you still don't talk after you've spent a few hours in a space so small you'll barely have room to blink."

Lylanya slowly walked towards him and then passed by, heading towards the long crate that the two salarian workers were bringing over. As Varinus and Chortan turned to watch her, Haedian reached down and carefully unfastened the lid on his own crate. As soon as it hinged back, Yalo popped up like a Jack in the Box, his pistol clasped on one hand. He leapt out, grabbing the unsuspecting Chortan from behind, who squealed as he felt Yalo's left arm wrap around him and the point of the quarian's pistol pressed into the side of his right eye.

"Stop right there, Varinus!" Yalo yelled, and the turian's eyes were on him. "Let her go, or your loudmouthed boss gets it."

"Y-Y-Your loudmouthed boss wouldn't like that!" Chortan gulped.

"And let you lot get away?" the turian growled, his eyes narrowing. "I don't think so. Kill him... I don't care. But if he dies, your pretty blue friend here will join him soon after."

Varinus elevated the barrel of his rifle up at Lylanya's head, and his eyes challenged Yalo once again.

"You'll let your boss die just to stop us escaping?" Yalo asked.

"He's just one man on this project," Varinus responded matter-of-factly. "He dies and we stop you, the project goes on. You escape and the whole thing is completely written off." A pause. "I've heard reports on what's happened in there. Sabotage, possibly thievery as well. The reports are vague, but they still paint a dark picture."

"Your call," Yalo said. "Sorry, but it was the wrong one."

The arm Yalo had wrapped around Chortan's chest flashed saffron and Varinus' assault rifle bleeped loudly. He cursed, looking over with wide eyes at Yalo to see the quarian's pistol facing him and a flare from the muzzle. For a fraction of a second he was blind in one eye as the grain of metal perforated it, but that didn't really matter beyond that short moment once it had coursed through his head and out the other side. Varinus was dead before his body even began to topple, or before the two salarians behind him had even looked up to stare in shock at what had happened to their guardian. Lylanya side-stepped out of the way, looking back at Yalo as her quarian companion then pushed Chortan away; the salarian stumbling and falling to his knees. Yalo turned to Haedian.

"Get that on the truck quickly, there'll probably be more of them here soon."

Haedian nodded, while Lylanya directed her attention to the two workers who were still by the crate. Flashing blue light, she reached out with both hands and lifted them up into the air a few feet, just holding them there for a while. She turned to regard Yalo.

"What do you think I shou-"

Lylanya cut herself off as she witnessed Yalo with his gun trained on Chortan, who was sprawled on the ground, leaning back on his arms in an attempt to quickly back away from the quarian. Another shot flared from his pistol, Chortan's head spasming as one eye exploded in a mess of thick olive liquid. The back of his skull slammed onto the ground and he lay there motionless, dark green fluid squelching out of the moral wound. Yalo looked across at her and Lylanya was so shocked that she lost control of her own powers, sending the two salarian workers back to the ground.

"Dammit, Lylanya," Yalo muttered as they tried to scramble back to their feet. His gun-wielding right arm swung around, then the other joined it to grasp the wrist for support. Two more shots rang out in quick succession, and the two workers dropped to the ground with yells, leaving small clouds of dust where they landed. Lylanya just looked at him again, her large blue eyes even more immense than normal and all muscles in her jaw completely effete.

"Come on, we have to leave quickly" Yalo said, clipping his gun to his thigh again and heading for the passenger door of the vehicle.

As Haedian finished loading the crate, Lylanya took a look at the miniature battlefield around her. She glanced at each body carefully, biting her lower lip as the markings on her forehead distorted in a doleful wince. She cursed quietly to herself, blinking quickly to dismiss a few small tears that had tried to form, then ripped her head away from the scene and swiftly marched to the front of the truck.


	12. Chapter 12

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 12**

Lylanya had been very quiet during the whole trip back. Despite bursting through the gate to get out and having several guards shoot at them from the roof of the building as they made their escape, Lylanya was stern and silent the entire time; driving as if it was a casual cruise. As if signaling their success, the first bright glow of the morning sun peeked over the horizon only moments after they were clear of the place, erasing the darkness from their surroundings except where long shadows stretched from anything with some height to it. Slowing the vehicle's speed as to avoid attention in case any local authorities were on an early morning patrol or returning from a late night one, Lylanya casually backtracked until she brought the truck to where they had been dropped off. Yalo looked at her expectantly as they arrived and she just glanced at him with an emotionless expression.

"You call him," she said, her voice matching her visage. "After all, it's _your_ victory."

Yalo cocked his head to one side, but she had already opened the door and leapt out before he could ask. Ignoring it, he contacted Intarr and told him to come and pick them up, then hopped out himself and went around the back to help Haedian unload their prize.

"Now remember, Intarr doesn't know what really happened back on Bersilius," Yalo warned. "He thinks you gassed everybody and escaped, and that Lylanya is an old mercenary buddy of mine from before I even joined him."

"I'll keep up your silly pretense, don't worry," Haedian muttered, but then he smiled. "It actually makes me look slightly better than I already am."

"And also keep in mind that he's not very fond of you, so don't push him and _try_ to keep your observations to a minimum."

"That goes without saying," Haedian stated. "And, yes, I'll try my best not to accrue the krogan's wrath."

Intarr arrived a few minutes later, swooping down in _Karina_ and touching down on an empty block with nothing but grass on it. He opened the main door and gave Yalo a nod as the quarian approached.

"Yalo," he said.

"Intarr," came the response with a returned nod.

"I've opened the cargo bay door on the other side," the krogan informed him, nudging his head back and to his left. "I trust all went well?"

Before Yalo answered, Doctor Haedian walked by with the mass-grav lift, heading around the back of the ship as he narrowed his eyes at Intarr. The krogan tracked his movement with his head, the massive plate on his forehead sliding down a bit as he scowled. "Well... about as well as can be expected given the circumstances," came his correction.

"Relax, its all been worked out," Yalo consoled. "Just remember: no skull crunching unless I say so."

"You're the boss," Intarr shrugged. "Was it clean, or did things get a bit messy?"

Yalo started to speak, but was interrupted by a familiar and irritated-sounding feminine voice.

"They got messy," Lylanya said, walking up to the door. She looked at Yalo, her already-present frown deepening. The early morning sun was reflecting in her eyes, making them seem to burn a bright yellow, while her skin looked slightly green. "_Too_ messy, some might say," she added.

She ducked under Intarr's arm and stepped up onto her ship, disappearing in the direction of the cockpit. Intarr watched her for a while, then looked back at Yalo sideways, his one visible eye seeming like a miniature sun now itself.

"What's with her?" he asked. Yalo shrugged.

"I think she feels I was a little... overzealous in my shooting," he responded.

"I didn't know there was such a thing," Intarr commented. "Come on... if you caused that much of a fuss, the faster we're off this place the better."

Yalo nodded, hauling himself up into _Karina_ and closing the door. Intarr noticed the doctor entering from the cargo bay so called out towards the cockpit that they were good to go. There was no response from Lylanya herself, but the engines roared to life and it wasn't long until the sleek blue ship was off the planet and back in the endless void of space. Yalo entered the cockpit to find Intarr and Haedian both sitting in seats on opposite sides of the compartment, while Lylanya was up front in the broken pilot's seat. Two sets of eyes met Yalo's visor as soon as he stepped in; one set krogan and the other salarian.

"So... what happened down there then?" Intarr asked.

Yalo took a seat and began to outline the events that transpired since Intarr had dropped them off, with Haedian filling in little bits once the story had made it to his involvement in things. Lylanya had remained silent the entire time, even when Intarr turned and made several praising comments about her actions during the mission, but as the story came to its end she got up from the pilot's seat and strode past them quickly, leaving the cockpit entirely. Yalo watched her pass through each room before opening the door of her own quarters in the distance, then disappearing as it snapped shut behind her.

"Pfft! Softhearted asari. Can't take a little bit of blood," Intarr snorted. Yalo sighed inside his helmet.

"I think I should go talk with her," he said. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one at fault here."

"She's too sensitive," Haedian uttered, as if an authority on the matter. "You did what had to be done... simple as that. We might not have escaped otherwise." A pause. "Besides, _I_ never liked Chortan or Varinus anyway."

"I'll be back later," Yalo said, heading off to Lylanya's quarters. "We have a lot to discuss."

"If she throws a hissy fit and leaves can I have her cut?" Intarr called out.

Yalo didn't respond and Intarr just snorted, shaking his head. He looked up at Haedian who just smiled nervously. "What are _you_ looking at?"

"A non-sentient lifeform who belongs in a cage," the salarian answered.

"Shut up!" Intarr yelled in his face before stomping off towards the cargo bay. Haedian frowned in the krogan's direction.

"A cage that should be thrown into a volcano on a planet whose sun is about to go supernova," he mumbled to himself.

He sat there for a while, his large charcoal eyes darting around the cockpit as he twiddled his fingers on his knees restlessly. Eventually his gaze was drawn to the main console at the front of the section.

"I hope she put on the autopilot before leaving..."

* * *

"Yes?"

That was the response Yalo got from behind the door as he tapped the control panel's chime to request entry to Lylanya's quarters.

"It's me. I got the feeling you wanted to talk with me."

"The term 'yell' would fit better than 'talk' I think, " came her answer.

"Fine. So can I come in so you can _yell_ at me then?"

"Yes."

Yalo opened the door, entering Lylanya's quarters for the first time since he'd been on _Karina_. They were bigger than he expected considering the size of the rooms that would generally be considered more important, but then that kind of fit what he knew of Lylanya. There was a large bed with dark purple sheets on it, with matching curtains at the port-side window. There was a desk and chair, with shelves with various knickknacks on them, Yalo guessed from her various adventures over the past hundred-and-a-bit years she'd been a mercenary. There was a vanity with a large mirror, which was hardly surprising, and what looked like a closet with an asari mannequin nearby that he guessed was for her armour. A simple exercise machine lay on the floor, but aside from that the room was very spacious and there was a lot of empty space simply not used. Lylanya was standing in this space at the moment, looking out the window with her arms crossed at the small of her back, facing side-on to Yalo. As soon as the door closed behind him she have him an accusative glare.

"You went too far!"

"I did what I had to do," Yalo countered, coldly and instantly. It seemed to catch her off guard, as if she were expecting him to pause, apologise or at least sound guilty about it, even if he believed his claim.

"No, you didn't. The turian, yes... _that_ I understand. But those salarians? They weren't even armed, they were helpless."

"They would have alerted others and they would have tried to stop us."

"We were getting shot at as we escaped!" Lylanya said after an exasperated sigh of disbelief. "They were _already_ trying to stop us."

"There could have been more... there probably _would_ have been, and it would have slowed us down. There's no time to try and make an effort to make sure they survive."

"That doesn't make it right. I could have just knocked them out, like I did with the others before I got you out of that crate. But _you_ had to just kill them in cold blood!"

Yalo paused, studying Lylanya for a moment.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you care?" the quarian repeated, crossing his arms and favouring one leg in a challenging pose. "You're a mercenary. Have been for, what... a few hundred years? You've probably killed dozens, if not _hundreds_ more than I have. And you're telling _me_ that I'm wrong and I went too far?"

"Yes I have," she said. "But I don't just treat life as meaningless. I've lived long enough to realise the value of life, and that a single person can effect the lives of others in ways we can't imagine."

"I _know_ that!" Yalo yelled back. "The reason I'm doing this, in case you forgot, is to save my people."

"That doesn't give you the right to take their lives like that," Lylanya argued. "Not when you can find another way. When there's no option, then fine... that's another matter. But you could have found another way. I've _always_ tried to find another way if I could."

She paused, her eyes drifting off a bit and her brow twisting with a mix of emotions.

"Or... at least I do now."

"You can't hesitate and think of alternatives in a situation like that," Yalo defended. "You go with the quickest and best option available at the time."

"Sure," Lylanya said, her eyes piercing through his visor to meet his. "You believe that now. But one day, you'll pull that trigger, or you'll activate that omni-tool or you'll do something else in the heat of the moment, and you'll end up regretting it for the _rest_ of your life."

Lylanya turned away sharply, but not in time for Yalo to missed the tears beginning to stream from her eyes. She stormed over to the back wall beside her bed, crossing her arms and then let out a heavy sigh. Yalo cocked his head to one side, then slowly approached.

"I sense there's more to this than just you objecting based on your principles," he said.

"In a way," she said, then sniffled. "Let me put it this way: I'm objecting because of one of the key moments in my life that _founded_ my principles."

There was an awkward silence between them, save for the odd sniff from Lylanya, who was still facing away from him. Yalo broke it.

"Tell me."

She looked over her shoulder at him, and he couldn't tell if she was angry, sad, confused or something else entirely.

"Why? Why should I tell you a personal matter of my past when you won't even tell me what it is you're planning on doing?"

"Well, aside from the fact I intend to tell all of you _very_ soon what my plans are, perhaps by telling me you can give me a perspective on things that I hadn't considered before. Perhaps I can learn from your example."

Lylanya's eyes looked away and she just stood there silently for what seemed like a long time. They narrowed briefly, as if she was battling her own conscience or something about whether to tell him or not, and then her face relaxed and she looked at him once more. "All right," she said, and it was almost a whisper.

Turning around fully, she gestured to the edge of her bed for Yalo to take a seat, and when he had she backed up against the wall behind her, clasping her hands before her nose as if in prayer. She took a deep breath, and began.

"It was almost seventy years ago now. Back before the humans were in and the batarians were out. I was hooked up with a band of mercs... the third one actually."

Lylanya paused for a moment, though it was more like the words had just left her. She gazed away at nothing, her eyes glazing over slightly, and then she said, "And the last" in a voice that wasn't hers. She blinked twice rapidly, her eyes darting to Yalo who was just sitting there. With an embarrassed cough and a downward glance she leant back against the wall, crossed her arms and continued on.

"There... there were seven of us in the group. There was the leader of the group, an asari twice my age named Sytheria. Or at least that's what we _called_ her... I don't think it was her real name. Then she had two turians directly below her she referred to as 'The Pin Twins,' half because they actually were brothers and half because together they were experts at simply pinning an enemy down in one place and stopping them from either advancing or retreating. There was a batarian named Tagarn who was our tech expert, a drell named Arann and finally two young asari: myself and a pureblood ten years my junior named Dri'ala.

"We operated out of an old cargo ship that we'd just take from system to system and leave out in the middle of nowhere with most of its systems off-line as to avoid detection. Everything inside worked fine, so we had power and life support and everything, but we turned off all the things that would get us detected by another ship. The old barge was pretty much just our home and we had a faster ship of Sytheria's that we used to strike at our targets with. Its sensors were specifically tweaked by Tagarn for a narrower but longer range, and we used it to detect ships from out of their own sensor range and would burst our engines and just use the inertia to get us to our targets, hopefully undetected, and then strike when we were right on them, preferably taking them by surprise and knocking out their weapons and engines before they could counterattack. Truth be told, we were actually closer to pirates than mercenaries. It didn't start out that way, but after basically pulling off some pirate raids as contracts Sytheria saw the profit in it and we began to just do it on our own between contracts for profit. We were already pretty much considered pirates by any authorities that knew about us, so we figured 'why the hell not?'

"Anyway, we were all one single unified group, but it still kind of split down the middle a bit. One one side there was Sytheria, The Twins and Tagarn, and on the other was the rest of us. Dri'ala and I started about the same time and hadn't been with the group as long, except for Arann who joined a little later than us, so the three of us kind of formed this tight knit group. It was a little like we were the little sisters and brother to the other big brothers with Sytheria as the mother at the top, who tended to trust the big brothers more because they had been around longer."

Lylanya looked distant again and a smile twitched to the surface.

"She was actually more like a mother than a boss in some ways come to think of it. Very strict, but also caring and fair. Never took sides or chose favourites, and everybody listened to her. I don't think I ever saw anybody question her decisions or orders. The Twins may have on rare occasion, but if their alternative or objection was denied they would never push the issue further."

Lylanya came back to reality, shaking her head a little before moving on.

"In either case, the point was that Dri'ala, Arann and I grew pretty close over time. We were the greener and less serious half to the more mature big brothers, and while they sometimes seemed to be irritated by our antics I remember Sytheria once telling them that she felt it made us a better team. Over time as our bond grew, another one began to form, specifically between Arann and myself. Dri'ala and I used to flirt with him and tease him jokingly, which embarrassed the hell out of him. Many don't think a drell can blush, but believe me... they can. Eventually I found that I was no longer just teasing him but _actually_ flirting with him. I think it was because I'd heard stories of the drell being these deadly soldiers and assassins with hearts as cold as ice, but Arann was instead rather shy and a little awkward, and I found it cute. At least he was when things weren't happening anyway; while on the job he was like a different drell entirely. He could shoot a krogan's left front testicle with a pistol from a hundred metres away, and he'd enter a room, his eyes would twitch for a few seconds and he'd be able to tell us any holes in our defenses or places enemies may be able to use to their advantage based on the layout of the place. Gravity seemed to hold no sway over him either... without so much as a running start he could leap five times his own height, and he had no fear in a fight, even if he seemed to want to crawl into a dark corner and hide from the smallest tease from Dri'ala or myself.

"Eventually I ended up jumping him one night, since he couldn't seem to take a hint, or was too timid to do anything about it. We became a thing, and while we didn't blab it around we didn't keep it a secret either and soon everybody knew. Sytheria took us aside after finding out and I thought she was going to tell us to knock it off, but all she told us was to not let it get in the way during work. And we didn't, more due to Arann than myself, since he seemed to switch into his 'battle mode' whenever we were working and it was like there was nothing between us at all until we got back, which was fine as far as we were both concerned and seemed to please Sytheria as well. Things seemed to be going well, but at the time I hadn't noticed that the little group that was once the three of us had become the two of us and Dri'ala. Now it was Arann and I who were the talkers and Dri'ala was growing increasingly quiet and distanced. We used to share meals together, but more frequently she'd start leaving part the way through them. She and I shared a room, and if Arann ever came in she'd stop whatever she was doing and utter something about 'leaving us two alone' and up and leave. I just let it happen, not because I was intentionally being selfish, but because I actually didn't notice it at the time. Hindsight provided that little insight into my life unfortunately. And, hey... it didn't hurt that when she wasn't there we could get it on like varren in heat without being disturbed.

"One day, after this had been going on for months and months, a job came up. Sytheria told us that it wasn't a big one and so not all of us would be going. Usually at least one of us stayed behind anyway to look after the main ship, but this time it would just be her, one of The Twins, Arann and Dri'ala going. Apparently they weren't expecting much resistance and she thought the less of us involved, the less there would be to go wrong. I usually went on missions with Arann and asked Sytheria why Dri'ala was going instead of me. She simply told me that she'd made her choice, and like everybody else when it came to our mother's orders, I didn't question her decisions beyond that first time. So they left, and I stayed behind. For some reason things didn't seem right from the start, and I wasn't sure what instinct kicked in or why, but... it was there, and yet, at the same time... it wasn't enough to... to..."

Lylanya sniffled, and tears began to run down her cheeks. By this point she had slid down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. She cupped her nose and mouth in her hands and began to rock slightly. Something light touched her shoulder and rested there.

"What happened?" she heard Yalo's voice say, curious and reassuring at the same time. Lylanya breathed in deeply as her mind cast back to some of the moments that most defined who she was today.

* * *

In some ways, it was like time itself began at that very moment. The moment when Sytheria's voice crackled through the intercom and echoed off the dull metallic walls of her quarters was if The Goddess herself was proclaiming the dawn of a new age. Not an age of life and prosperity, but one of death and destruction. Everything before had seemed like a dream by comparison, and everything since would be permanently coloured by it.

"Mission failed," came the words. "Arann is dead."

Lylanya felt as if all her internal organs had vanished and been replaced by a void the size of the universe itself. For what seemed eons she just sat there, her eyes wide and refusing to blink. The datapad in her hand slipped to the floor as she finally tore from her bunk through the door and out into the main corridor. She was running through filtered air, but it felt like wading through water to her, and the more she wanted to get to the docking area the more it felt like it was fighting her back. She was a dozen metres or so away from the docking bay room doors when she saw one of The Twins emerge, followed soon by the other. Carried between them was a long black bag about two metres in length, and Lylanya knew exactly what was inside it. She froze, the only movement her eyes as they traced the movement of the bag coming towards her. She sidestepped to her left to let them past, more as an instinct than a conscious act, and as it passed by she didn't even turn her head to track it, instead looking up and to her right as blue entered the corner of her eye. There was Dri'ala, her large green eyes brimming with tears and a look of sorrow and something else Lylanya couldn't describe.

"What happened?" Lylanya asked her best friend.

Dri'ala stopped for a moment, looking directly into Lylanya's eyes. This only lasted a few seconds before the emerald orbs darted briefly towards Sytheria behind her and were finally concealed by her eyelids, squeezing out more liquid before she kept walking. Lylanya's gaze followed her friend's trudging steps before she was aware of Sytheria passing by her. Looking up at her leader she saw that there were no tears in her eyes or look of sadness on her face. Sytheria's emotional state was very clear: she was angry.

Lylanya shifted her gaze quickly, as if the rage from Sytheria was directed at her, even though she knew she had nothing to do with whatever had happened. She stared at the floor while Sytheria passed behind her, the only sense of any kind to her the sound of the ebbing footsteps behind her. A door creaked in the distance, jolting her back into reality and she turned around to see The Twins taking the bag into Arann's room.

_Taking Arann into Arann's room_, Lylanya's mind corrected.

Lylanya sniffed and blinked away her sadness, heading towards the turians as they disappeared into Arann's room.

"Wait," she called, but it was no more than a whisper for a start. "Wait!" she repeated louder.

She quickened her pace and found her way into the room blocked by one of The Twins: Garonis, the one with the darker complexion and facial markings around his mouth resembling jagged teeth. Behind him she could see his brother laying the bag on Arann's bed carefully. Lylanya moved to get past but Garonis shifted to block her again.

"Move, Garonis!" Lylanya insisted. His constant success at blocking her every attempt was frustrating her.

"Arann's body is to be undisturbed," the turian explained, his voice cold and direct. "Sytheria's orders."

"But I _need_ to see him!" Lylanya argued, trying her damnedest to get through a gap under his left arm she knew wasn't going to be there long.

"He's dead, Lyl!" the turian snapped, using the shortened nickname she had become more used to hearing over her time there. "You seeing his bloodied corpse isn't going to change that!"

Lylanya was stunned by this and stopped her futile efforts to get past, just as a large gap opened up for the other turian to leave the room through. Garonis was always the least sensitive of the brothers, which was saying something since neither were particularly soft or sentimental, but he usually wasn't as blunt as this. Lylanya just sneered at him until she heard a creak from further down the hall and saw Dri'ala and Sytheria at Sytheria's quarters and about to enter.

"Sytheria! Dri'ala! Wait!" Lylanya called out to them, tearing towards them as if them disappearing into the door meant the universe itself ending. "I need to-"

Lylanya cut herself off as the door closed behind them. She heard the locking mechanism creaking and clicking into place. The same noise came from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to witness Garonis locking up Arann's quarters. It was as if she didn't even exist to them at the moment, but Lylanya wasn't going to stand for that.

"What happened?" the asari demanded, storming up to Garonis. "Tell me!"

"Arann got shot," the turian answered, not even making eye contact and in a manner so casual it was as if he couldn't decide what to eat.

"How?"

"With a gun, in the head," Garonis said as if the answer were obvious. "You'll have to talk to Sytheria for more than that."

Garonis checked his Crossfire assault rifle while Lylanya fumed at his insensitivity and complete lack of cooperation. The fact that he still hadn't even looked at her felt like salt in the wounds.

"You were there! Why can't _you_ tell me?"

"Because I was told not to," he said, turning his back to her and walking away towards the docking bay again. "Sytheria's orders."

Lylanya fumed for a while more, then punched the wall to the left of Arann's door in frustration, briefly pulsing with dark energy and leaving a small fist-sized dent behind as she stormed off to her quarters.

Lylanya lay there for what felt like eons, staring up at the ceiling above her bed with her pillow hugged to her chest. The datapad she'd dropped earlier was half-crushed at the foot of her bed where she'd stepped on it shortly before collapsing on her bunk. If she'd even acknowledged its destruction she'd have probably found it fitting, considering it had contained an asari romance novel she'd been reading before hearing the news.

_Mission failed. Arann is dead._

Shit! Why did those words have to echo through her mind? She slapped her right right palm against her forehead as if the act would drive them out, then tossed the pillow against the far wall as if casting it aside would remove all her pain and doubt. As the pillow made contact, a creaking noise sounded from the opposite wall and Lylanya craned her neck to see the door half-open and Dri'ala standing in it; staring at her with wide green eyes and frozen between the task of opening the door as if standing still would make her invisible.

"Lylanya..."

That's all she said, her eyes dropping to nothing on the floor. Then, as if time decided to unfreeze in her vicinity and make up for its lost existence, the door was fully open and Dri'ala was at her footlocker, opening it up.

"What's going on?" Lylanya asked, standing up now. "What happened? Why won't anybody tell me anything?"

Dri'ala froze again about halfway through Lylanya's questions, then eventually looked over her shoulder up at her friend. She had a clear complexion and was paler than most asari, with a hint of green in her skin, but now she seemed even paler than normal. Her mouth moved a little, but nothing came out. As if sinking under some pressure her eyes sank down to the floor and words eventually came.

"Arann got shot. He... got shot in the head." A pause, and then she turned away and spoke swiftly. "And I have to go."

Dri'ala's arms were a blur and the contents of her footlocker poured upwards onto her bed. It happened so fast, Lylanya didn't manage to get a word in until it was empty.

"What... what do you _mean_ you have to go?" Lylanya asked, stepping forward and finding it hard to evaluate the situation.

"I _mean_, I'm leaving," Dri'ala answered, trying to sound firm and in control, but failing. "I'm leaving now. Sytheria's taking me away and... and... I'm not coming back."

"You... you _can't_ go!" Lylanya said, raising her voice. "By The Goddess... I don't even _know_ what happened! Arann's _dead_ and now you're going away?"

"I have to go," Dri'ala said, this time sounding more convincing than before. She hauled a large bag from under her bed and tossed it up atop it beside the disorganised pile that once occupied the footlocker.

"You can't," Lylanya said, placing her hand on Dri'ala's shoulder. The younger asari slapped it away violently as if Lylanya was diseased, spinning around onto her feet.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed.

Lylanya took a step back, her eyes wide. But at that moment, as Dri'ala looked at her, she caught something, and wide eyes narrowed.

"You're hiding something from me," she said. Dri'ala took a step back and turned back around. "What did you do?"

"I'm leaving, Lylanya! Just let me pack and go!"

Dri'ala shoved her stuff into the case, but it would never fit properly given her lack of finesse. Lylanya grabbed her upper right arm and spun her around.

"No! _You're_ not going anywhere until I find out what happened on that mission!"

"I told you!" Dri'ala yelled back into Lylanya's face, all emotional strength leaving her and tears flowing free. "He got shot!"

"How!" Lylanya demanded, grabbing her other arm now too, then swinging her around to pin her against the wall. "_How_ did he get shot?"

"I can't tell you!"

"Was it something _you_ did? Did he take a bullet for you? Or did you do something stupid and get him shot?"

"Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me! What happened?"

Dri'ala remained silent save for struggling grunts.

"Fine! I'll find out the hard way then!"

She saw fear strike Dri'ala's features. The younger asari knew exactly what Lylanya meant, and she'd seen first hand how good Lylanya was at getting information from somebody that way.

"You won't," her voice quavered

"I'm _going_ to find out what happened... one way or another." Lylanya was determined and Dri'ala could see that.

"You're going to have to dig deep," Dri'ala said, taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what was to come. "I'm not letting you in easily."

"Then that's what I'll do."

Lylanya leaned in close and closed her eyes. The room seemed to grow darker for a brief moment before lighting up around the dominant asari as her eyes blackened and the other jerked with a groan of resistance in her grasp. The younger asari's mind was dark to her and moving through it felt like wading thrrough a deep swamp. Lylanya had never been in a mind so closed off to her from the start, and it took a bit of effort for her to break the basic barriers and enable her to see anything. There were many memories there, though they were hazy and nothing stood out. Whether Dri'ala was trying to flood her mind with thoughts to keep her out or whether they were simply there because they were nothing secret Lylanya didn't know. In either case, she had to dig deeper.

There was resistance for a moment, but things became clearer soon enough. More of the same, but more vivid now, until something drew her attention. It was shadows and sounds at first. She knew the sounds but couldn't recognise them, and the shadows resembled familiar shapes but placing them was hard. They tried to retreat further away, but this just encouraged her to chase them. It was getting harder to keep catch them, but she persisted, breaking any and all blocks that came her way. Clarity soon hit and resistance ebbed, as noise became voices and laughter and shadows became shapes with form and depth.

It was them she was hiding away and their time together. Lylanya was experiencing a moment between Dri'ala, Arann and herself from Dri'ala's perspective, just like any random moment they'd shared together when not on a job. It was a happy moment of them joking and laughing and telling stories. Why did Dri'ala want to hide this from her? What was so bad about a moment like this? No, wait... there was more to this. There's something there, yet to be uncovered somewhere in this seemingly innocent scene. Lylanya searched, sensing things out. She was right, there was something there. Something that didn't feel right. It was an emotion of some kind... definitely a negative one. It came from Dri'ala herself. It seemed to get stronger as she witnessed herself giving Arann a kiss. Hate? No, it wasn't quite that strong. Jealousy? Yes, it was. It was jealousy.

There had to be more than that though. Lylanya had to find her memory of what happened on the mission. Even with her hiding it away it shouldn't be too hard to find, since it clearly made her distraught. Dri'ala didn't have the training and mental discipline she did, and she'd invaded the minds of others who had without too many problems in the past. If she could get into the mind of an asari Matriarch, she could damn well get what she wanted from this comparatively young pup. She already knew there was jealousy there, so she could draw on that and it may just lead her to the answers. Dri'ala must have had a crush on Arann too, and seeing the two of them together must have been tough for her. But what did that have to do with the mission where Arann was killed? Was she so jealous that he wasn't with her that she'd rather see Arann killed than romantically involved with her best friend? Was there a moment where she could have saved his life, but she chose not to act out of spite? Lylanya knew there was more to this.

She delved further into the depths of Dri'ala's mind, trying to find that which was being concealed from her the most. It had to have only been seconds in reality, but the search felt agonisingly long within Dri'ala's consciousness, and resistance was growing. Lylanya eventually sensed something dark and evasive, which only drew her attention more to it. She charged her way against all resistance, and could soon hear voices and see shapes like before, though these were not as familiar. The voices sounded angry and she soon began to feel the tension as she once again began to live out the scene from Dri'ala's perspective. Sounds were muffled, and all was black silhouettes against white streaks. Perspective wasn't quite right, and she could feel Dri'ala fighting her harder as a voice once clear for a split second would muffle again, and an image that would seem to form a picture would be a garbled mystery once more. Lylanya wasn't going to let Dri'ala keep her out now though, not when she'd got this far. She fought hard again, so much so she could hear herself grunting in the real world, which sent shockwaves into the mental realm like earthquakes to crumble the last walls Dri'ala could muster to dust.

Things weren't all familiar here, but they were at least clear. She was inside a ship, or at least it seemed that way. Colours were more vivid than in real life and there was a bright contrast to everything. The edges of her vision were darker and blurred, but all that was in the centre was clear, which wasn't too dissimilar to how she had experienced the previous memory. The voices weren't entirely clear, but they were sharper than the muffled gibberish they had started as. Dri'ala was still resisting her a little, and Lylanya could feel it, but she was too far into it to be stopped now. She could recognise two figures: Garonis and Arann. While the turian was nearby just to her right, Arann stood in the centre of her vision, facing and talking to somebody in the distance. He and the other figure were yelling at each other, and then Arann raised his gun at the figure. Dri'ala spoke, and it was the only word Lylanya clearly understood since she'd melded with her.

"No!"

It was spoken not as a sudden outburst of objection, but as a firm and confident declaration. Something blurred into view at the bottom portion of her vision and then flashed with a crisp, loud bang. Arann's head jerked just as Lylanya recognised the now still obstruction as Dri'ala's extended arm with a pistol at the end of it. There was a scream as the drell fell, twisting just in time for Lylanya to catch the final surprised expression that adorned his lifeless face. She saw Sytheria rush to the body shortly before Garonis' surprised visage entered her vision and a blinding light brought her back to reality.

* * *

Lylanya opened her eyes, and they met the tear-filled ones of Dri'ala, still pressed up against the wall before her. A trickle of blood had run out of one nostril to coat her lips and slide down her chin where it met with the streams from her eyes. She looked exhausted, pale and grief-stricken, and Lylanya could tell that she knew she'd found what she was after.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Dri'ala breathed.

Shock left Lylanya to be replaced by pure rage. She gritted her teeth and her breathing accelerated. The meld had taken a lot out of her, but anger had given her a second wind. She let go of Dri'ala's arms, but her right hand clamped around the younger asari's neck like a vice. Dri'ala gasped, both at the strong pressure on her windpipe and in fear.

"Sorry?" Lylanya hissed.

She drew her left arm back, a fist balling at the end of it, then brought it as hard as she could against Dri'ala's face. Her victim was knocked out of her own grasp to the floor, glancing off a metal filing cabinet that sat between each of their beds. She only had time to get off her stomach to her hands and knees before a second assault came.

"You _bitch!_" Lylanya growled, pulsing with blue energy. "You fucking bitch! You _killed_ him!"

Dri'ala's body shimmered with biotic power too, but it was not her own. Her body was lifted into the air as Lylanya swept her hand up then propelled her into the far wall beyond the ends of their beds. Dri'ala hit the wall hard, making a nasty dent and fell to the ground. She groaned in pain on the floor, but Lylanya didn't stop there; storming towards her and sweeping her into the air again with her biotics.

"You were jealous! You wanted him and when you couldn't _have_ him..."

Lylanya trailed off as she raised Dri'ala up again. "...You waited until I wasn't there and _killed_ him!"

She heaved her into the wall just past her bed. This time Dri'ala's head struck the wall with a nasty thunk and she dropped behind Lylanya's bed to leave behind a bloody mark in her wake. Lylanya stepped closer and floated her former best friend's now limp body up. The fact that the upper right side of her head was a bloody mess didn't seem to bother Lylanya who screamed at her and swung her around behind her into the opposite wall.

Lylanya's rage had taken complete hold of her, and Dri'ala was slammed into various walls another five times before Sytheria came running in. When she saw the state of Dri'ala from suffering Lylanya's wrath, she was frozen. Her eyes drifted to Lylanya who stood there looking at her; breathing heavily in an almost primal pose with gritted teeth and eyes glazed with rage. Every wall had a smear or splatter of blood on it somewhere and Dri'ala's left arm poked at an unnatural angle.

"By The Goddess!" Sytheria eventually managed to say. "What have you done?"

She was too shocked to be angry, and her mouth seemed incapable of closing. Reality kicked back in and without keeping her eyes off Lylanya she slammed her hand against the door panel to activate the shipwide intercom.

"Tagarn, prep the shuttle. Garonis, get in here with a stretcher right away!"

Two acknowledgment came through the speaker in quick succession and Sytheria tapped the panel again before taking another step into the room towards Lylanya.

"I'm going to ask that you come with me to the brig without a fuss _right_ now," Sytheria stated firmly. "Is that clear?"

All Lylanya did was nod.

* * *

"They rushed her to the nearest medical facility," Lylanya explained to Yalo, wiping some tears away. "I just waited in the brig for a week... nobody talked to me. Garonis shoved a bowl of food and a cup of water in through the door twice a day, but that was it as far as contact with the others went."

"She died, didn't she?" Yalo asked. Lylanya nodded, squeezing her eyes closed as if doing so would stop all future tears until the end of time.

"I understand," Yalo said reassuringly. You killed your best friend because she killed your lover out of jealousy, so you've been reluctant to kill since."

"Oh no," Lylanya said, shaking her head. "You don't understand. You don't understand at all."

Yalo twisted his head to one side and she turned to regard him. Sighing deeply and leaning back to stare at the ceiling, she proceeded to explain.

"Sytheria eventually came to me after that week was up."

* * *

Lylanya looked up from her bunk to see a familiar form standing in the doorway, wearing a long black and white dress rather than the bulky blue and red armour that normally adorned her.

"She's dying," Sytheria said solemnly, as if they'd last talked only moments earlier instead of more than seven days ago. There was no hint of blame or anger in her voice.

"How..." Lylanya started, before stopping as if speaking felt foreign to her. In truth speaking of Dri'ala made her feel empty and hollow. "How much time does she have?"

"A few days. A week at the most," Sytheria answered, and then there was silence for a long time. "She wants to see you."

Those words hit Lylanya like a tonne of bricks, and she noticed that even Sytheria seemed surprised to be saying them.

"Why?"

The obvious questions didn't always have obvious answers. Sytheria's gaze faltered briefly before returning to meet Lylanya's.

"She said that you didn't fully understand. She said that if... if..."

Sytheria looked away and up, half turning from the younger asari. Lylanya couldn't see the tears, but light gleamed off something near Sytheria's eyes as she moved. The band leader gathered herself up again.

"She said that if she was going to die anyway, she wanted to make sure that you understood."

"Understood what?"

"That's for her to tell you. Now come on... have a shower and get changed. We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

Lylanya nodded and got to her feet. As she went to walk past Sytheria on the way out, her chest hit something and she was halted. It was Sytheria's palm, and as she looked at the older asari she saw a cold seriousness in her eyes.

"I warn you now: if you harm that girl any further in any way... I _will_ kill you."

* * *

Wearing more casual attire as opposed to her black commando armour, Lylanya walked into the bright, ultra-clean room where Dri'ala lay; Sytheria following closely behind her. She lay there alone in the centre of the room in a bed, attached to several machines that glowed and made subtle electronic noises now and then. Her right arm was in a cast and most of her head was wrapped in bandages, though one eye and most of her mouth were still visible. As Lylanya gazed down at her she expected to see fear in her eyes and a clear need to escape, but instead that half a mouth smiled and there was a warmth in that single eye that welcomed her. An asari nurse was there and had been in the room from the start, but Lylanya never acknowledged her until she approached.

"You must be Lylanya," she said softly, in a manner Lylanya might have considered condescending in any other environment. "Was Dri'ala's condition explained to you?"

Lylanya's eyes darted away from her injured friend for the first time since she'd entered the room. She didn't say anything, and the nurse looked to Sytheria who merely shook her head.

"To put it simply, she suffered a lot of brain damage," the nurse explained. "Severe brain damage in fact. She doesn't have much time left, and her condition will only continue to degrade as time goes on. Due to her injuries she suffers from speech problems, so you'll have to listen to her carefully when she speaks to you."

"Does...does she know who I am?" Lylanya asked, eyes shifting back to Dri'ala as she wondered if it had anything to do with her warm reception.

"Her memories don't seem to have been affected, despite the level of damage," the nurse assured. "Unfortunately it's the other areas of the brain one needs to survive that she's either lost or is losing."

Dri'ala called out something to them, but Lylanya couldn't understand it. The young asari was only speaking out of half of her mouth and the words were clipped and forced, as well as being rather unclear. Lylanya's brow twitched in confusion and she turned to the nurse, who actually chuckled slightly.

"She said, she wouldn't have asked you here if she didn't know you," the nurse translated.

"I'm not so sure," Lylanya whispered, looking back at Dri'ala. It was the nurse's turn to look quizzical, but the only answer she got from anybody was a shake of the head and a stern look from Sytheria. Dri'ala patted the bed with her unbroken arm, inviting Lylanya to sit there. Reluctantly she complied, moving Dri'ala's hand and holding it in her own. Two puzzled eyes stared into one wide one.

"Do you... remember what I-"

Lylanya was cut off as she felt Dri'ala's fingertips touch her lips. Looking at her she saw the younger asari was slowly nodding her head. Lylanya took her hand within her own again.

"Then why are... why _did_ you want me to-"

Dri'ala interrupted Lylanya again, though this time with words. "Need... Tell... You."

"Tell me what?"

"You... Meld... Me."

"You want me to _meld_ with you?"

Dri'ala nodded. Lylanya didn't know how to react.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Sytheria objected from behind them.

"No!" Dri'ala insisted loudly. "Must... Meld. Must... Show."

"Nurse?" Sytheria asked sceptically.

"I have to agree, you're in no condition to be melded with. Even the slightest-"

"Must... Meld!" Dri'ala insisted again. "No... harm. Mind... Open."

She looked up at Lylanya, her single eye glossy with moisture. Lylanya gave her a nod.

"It's okay. If she _is_ opening up to me entirely, then I shouldn't harm her." Lylanya looked over her shoulder at Sytheria. "I _won't_ harm her," she promised.

Making sure that her friend was ready and receiving a nod, Lylanya proceeded to join minds with her, and noticed the ease of transition wildly contrasting the last time.

* * *

Lylanya found herself back on the ship where Arann's death took place, once again in Dri'ala's shoes. Things were clearer this time though, so much so that it was like actually being there. The situation was slightly different too, and it took a few moments for Lylanya to realise that it was because events were taking place at a slightly earlier time than when her previous foray into this moment had. The ship they were in seemed elegant in comparison to their own, both when it came to their home and the slightly better shuttle they cruised around in. It was asari in design, which Lylanya could tell instantly from the curves and colours, as well as the layout. There were no angry voices yet, but she got the feeling they'd be coming soon, because she and the others were approaching a room she'd seen before. Arann wandered up ahead upon entering, scanning the surroundings with his eyes as he always did. He indicated some cover in the form of two long couches on either side of the room, and she witnessed Sytheria taking the one on the right while she as Dri'ala hunkered down behind the left one. Garonis stuck by the entrance behind them and when they were all set Arann called out loudly towards the closed door at the opposite end of the room.

"Your guards are either all dead or incapacitated! Surrender yourself and your cargo freely and nobody else will be hurt."

It was good to hear his croaky voice once again, even more-so than it had been to see his dark eyes and dark green skin. For a while there was only silence, save for the uneasy shuffling from those in the room, but eventually a muffled voice responded from beyond the door. Lylanya swore she'd heard the voice before, but she couldn't quite place where, perhaps because it was far away and dampened. It was another asari, of that she was certain. The door slowly creaked open and out stepped a figure in a long, purple dress far more elegant than the items most space travelers would wear. She had deep blue eyes and sky-blue skin, with violet markings around her eyes and cheeks. If she wasn't living in a memory that she had no control over, Lylanya's jaw would have dropped.

_Mother?_

The thought hit her and the body she was experiencing this through seemed to act accordingly, as if she was in control after all. She sensed Dri'ala's realisation and concern, noticed that she blinked quickly and was looking around between the others wildly. Dri'ala had never met her mother, and Lylanya hadn't seen her herself for years, but she had told Dri'ala who her mother was, and being a young asari she knew exactly who her famous mother was. Dri'ala was the only one whom she'd told out of the group in fact, and even then she had only found out due to a slip of the tongue in a pointless conversation about asari clothing. Lylanya didn't exactly want people to know her past.

"A wise choice," Sytheria said, standing up from behind her cover with a respectful nod. "I take it the entrance to the cargo bay is beyond the door behind you?"

"I'm not surrendering," Lylanya's mother answered, her eyes narrowing. "I just came to warn you that this entire section of the ship will be vented to space in less than a minute, and only I have the authorisation and ability to stop that from happening. I suggest you use that time wisely to return to your ship and leave."

"Close that door and I'll shoot!" warned Arann, gun pointed straight at her head. "Deactivate the venting countdown."

"Shoot me and any hope of you stopping it is gone," Lylanya's mother said firmly.

"Or we can just shoot you and get past you through that door where it's safe," Arann said, a glimmer of pride in his voice that the asari that just condescended him had missed a crucial factor.

"Don't hurt her!" Dri'ala's voice called out to the drell.

"That's not your decision to make," Arann called back over his shoulder. He then directed his voice towards Sytheria. "Boss?"

"We're not leaving without those clothes," Sytheria proclaimed firmly. "Those clothes are worth a lot, and we paid far too much for the information on your ship's flight plan to let this one slip through our fingers."

"They're _just_ clothes, Sytheria," Dri'ala objected.

"Dri'ala, be quiet!" Sytheria ordered.

"You're running out of time," Lylanya's mother said.

"Shut up!" Arann yelled at her. "Don't. Move."

"Are you really going to shoot her over some stupid clothes, Arann?" Dri'ala called.

"Dri'ala, shut up!" Arann said, turning his head towards her. Lylanya's mother saw this and moved, not realising exactly how keen the drell's perceptions were. His eyes darted in her direction and his gun lowered down and to the left and fired. Lylanya's mother screamed in pain as there was a small explosion of fabric and blood just above her right knee. She stumbled but caught hold of the edge of the doorframe, pulling herself upright again.

"I warned you!" Arann challenged. "Now... shut the venting countdown _off_!"

"No way," came the response through gritted teeth. "I'll meet The Goddess before you get my work."

"Suit yourself," Arann said.

His arm raised up, and that's when Lylanya heard the objection and saw the blur of Dri'ala's own arm entering her vision and firing at the drell. The rest was pretty much exactly as she'd witnessed it the first time, as Sytheria rushed to Arann's body and Garonis rushed to Dri'ala with that look of shock on his face as he pulled the gun from her hand. The very last thing she witnessed was Dri'ala glancing towards the far door where Lylanya's mother was propped up in the door frame She was looking back at Dri'ala quizzically for a moment, then took a limp backwards and closed the door behind her. Then, it all faded away.

_You did it to protect my mother_, Lylanya realised. _He was going to kill her, and you shot him to protect her_.

Lylanya was left wondering about certain things, but soon heard answers from within Dri'ala's consciousness before she could even finish asking. She wondered about them getting off the ship, but it seemed either Lylanya's mother stopped the venting or the whole thing had been a bluff from the start. She wondered what Sytheria had spoken to Dri'ala about in her quarters when they returned and had locked her out, and it seemed Sytheria was shocked and disappointed and wanted Dri'ala to simply leave. She wondered why she was left behind, and it turned out that Sytheria also knew who Lylanya's mother was and had discounted her from the mission for that very reason. She hadn't known that Dri'ala was aware of the fact though. Finally, she wondered if Dri'ala had only shot Arann to protect her mother or whether part of it was because of the jealousy she had sensed. For a while the answer didn't seem to come with that one, so Lylanya went to the most basic questions.

_Were you jealous of us? Did you have feelings for him?_

This time she got an answer. Two of them in fact.

_Yes_. A pause. _And no_.

Lylanya was left wondering again, but the response was already on its way. This time it was visual again, though it was no vision or scene she'd ever witnessed before, either through Dri'ala's memories or her own. Unlike the other memories, she actually saw Dri'ala before her this time rather than possessing her, and she soon realised that this wasn't a memory at all.. She also saw herself, and the scene taking place before her was both surprising and eye-opening at the same time. The two of them were face to face, pressed up against each other and engaged in a very sensual embrace. Everything around them was a black void, and their bare blue bodies seemed to glow to light up only themselves. Their arms roamed over each other's skin and their lips caressed each other softly and lovingly. The kiss broke, and Dri'ala turned her head to look at Lylanya; not the one she was kissing, but the real one witnessing it. The blissful smile she'd had after their lips parted disappeared, a tear rolled down her cheek, and the vision faded to black.

* * *

Lylanya opened her eyes to find herself back in the real world, with Dri'ala's large green eye staring back up at her. Lylanya didn't know what to say, and her vision began to blur from the rapidly forming tears.

"I... I didn't know you felt that way," she managed to choke out. "I didn't... Oh, by The Goddess... what have I _done_?"

* * *

The room was so quiet Yalo would have sworn that the void of space beyond the ship's hull would be louder. Lylanya was just leaning right back against the wall, her head hanging down limply with tear-streaked cheeks, as if telling the tale had sucked the very life out of her. Yalo didn't know what to say to what Lylanya had just told him, but he knew his question had been fully answered, and he now felt a little guilty that it had been. The air was uncomfortable, so much so that even Yalo's suit couldn't protect him from it. Whether to say something or just leave or simply wait, the quarian didn't know what was best. He looked away for a moment, then turned back as he heard the asari speak.

"I left the room after that," she continued. "I told Dri'ala that no apology from me would be enough to make up for what I had done, and she gave me this look that seemed to tell me she forgave me anyway, and I didn't feel I deserved it. I said nothing else to her... I just leant down and gently kissed her lips, then left her side, not turning back. I briefly stopped before Sytheria, and I couldn't read the emotions on her face. I simply told her I would be leaving, and I wouldn't be coming back. She seemed to understand and just nodded, and then we both left. I didn't speak to anybody when I had got back, and Sytheria seemed to usher anybody away from me who tried. I packed, and Sytheria took me to the nearest civilised planet. She wished me luck as she dropped me off, and that was the first time she'd spoken to me since we left the hospital. I just told her that I was going to do better for Dri'ala, and that was the last time we saw each other. I'm not sure she knew what I meant... _I_ didn't even exactly know what I meant myself. I got a message from her a few days later telling me Dri'ala had passed away, along with a package. Inside it was Dri'ala's pistol, with a tag tied to the handle that simply said 'From somebody that loved you' on it."

Lylanya pointed wearily at the wall above her bed at the gun displayed there: black with the green stripe on the side angling down the handle. Yalo recognised the gun all too well.

"No wonder you came back for it," he commented. Lylanya managed to smile a little at that, if only for a split second.

"Yes. The gun that killed my lover and was owned by the best friend who loved me whom I killed. Ever since it's been with me."

"Except for the brief moment it was with me," Yalo said.

"No... that was my other gun. A replica," Lylanya explained. "The real one stays up there, above my bed. I would never risk it. But I needed to be reminded of what happened, so I had a replica made to use, so I always have it with me out there as well."

"I wouldn't have thought you'd need a gun to remind you of something like that," Yalo noted. Lylanya lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling with a sigh.

"It's ironic, but I kind of understand the drell a little better after that I think," she uttered. "I'm not sure exactly what their perfect memory is like, but I know that that week of my life is something that's permanently burned into my own. I can remember it all so clearly." Her eyes narrowed a bit. "I don't think I'd actually _want_ to know what a memory like that would be for a drell."

She turned to Yalo, her head sagging and bouncing to the side as she regarded him.

"Moments like that colour you differently from then on, Yalo. Just remember that when it comes time for you to do whatever it is you feel you have to do."

"My feelings don't matter," Yalo responded. "What I'm going to to do _must_ be done. I can't let any sense of guilt or doubt stop me from that."

"Just don't underestimate the price you may have to pay for it. That's all I'm saying. However hard you may think it is, it's going to be much harder."

"I hope so," Yalo answered. "Because I won't deserve anything less."


	13. Chapter 13

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 13**

While Lylanya had been condemning of his most recent actions on Mannovai, his other two companions seemed somewhat supportive, and Yalo wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. It reminded him of hearing the stories about two members of the Admiralty Board whom his father or sister respected suddenly having wildly conflicting opinions and them not being quite sure which one to listen to and generally support. He knew Lylanya was right from a moral standpoint, but he also knew he had to do what he had to do for the greater good. He couldn't help but be reminded a little bit of his sister again through her opening up to him recently, and memories of her were always pleasant. At least until it dawned on him that she was no longer with him.

_From a certain point of view it's for the best_, he thought. _That way you won't have to suffer along with the others_.

Of course then it dawned on him that if she hadn't died he probably wouldn't have been out here now, doing what he was doing. He'd probably have left and returned long ago, with some meaningless little trinket or piece of data that might help one ship for a few years then be forgotten about in a decade or two entirely.

_I doubt you would have settled for something so mundane_.

It was Linna's voice again from within, as if she were there with him. But he'd never know if that thought were true or not because she wasn't. Right now all he had was a krogan and a salarian, who through sheer boredom had decided to play a card game of some type while _Karina_ sailed to her next destination. Despite Lylanya's protests and doubts about Yalo's mission and his methods, she had let him input their next course without question. Beyond that they'd avoided each other for about half a galactic standard day now, with her pretty much keeping to her room. The other two had called Yalo on his promise to tell them exactly what was going on, but he wanted to wait a little longer. Partly for Lylanya's sake, and partly because much depended on the next step succeeding.

"After my meeting on Noveria," the quarian had answered. "Once I have an answer there, I can proceed one way or another."

Right now he was thumbing through some additional information contained on a datapad. He'd read it previously already, back before he'd even left the Flotilla, but he wanted to brush up on everything again. If one thing had been key to his success aside from luck and his allies, it was his preparedness. He'd studied all the major races to varying degrees, as well as major systems, but his most important information was in-depth and specific information related to anything linked to his plan in any way. Keeping up with the news was one of these factors, and Noveria had been in the news quite a bit lately. A lot of it was vague speculation, but the main point was that many of the companies on Noveria had been hit hard by it all, and when one of those companies have something you want, knowing that they're in a little financial trouble can only be an advantage.

"Which company are you meeting with?" Doctor Haedian asked.

Yalo glanced past the pad at the source of the high-pitched query. "Huh?" he responded to the salarian.

"Which _company_?" Haedian repeated. "Who is it?"

"Binary Helix," came the answer.

"I've heard of them," Intarr said. "Some krogan were wanting them to help cure the genophage, but when the results weren't coming they tried to sue them."

"They're leading experts in biotechnology, biotics and genetic research and engineering," Haedian explained to the krogan dryly, then turned back to Yalo. "What do they have that you want."

"I'll tell you soon, don't worry," Yalo said. "Like I said, once I have an answer from them I'll tell you all everything."

"Okay, okay. I get the point," Haedian sighed. "Can you answer this one for me then: how does your Overload work exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally an enemy has to be firing a weapon before you can trigger it to overload like that. But you seem to be able to trigger one on a gun without them even _starting_ to pull the trigger."

"That's because I don't," Yalo said, followed by a slight chuckle. Haedian blinked rapidly in response.

"You _don't_? Don't what?"

"Don't overload their weapon," Yalo answered, and the smirk could be heard. "All it does is set off the alarm on the weapon, it doesn't actually overheat the gun at all."

"Wait a minute!" Intarr growled, suddenly showing an interest in the conversation as he stopped attempting to shuffle the cards in his meaty hands. "So when we first met and my gun's overheat alarm went off..."

"You could have still fired it and shot me, yes," Yalo finished, matter-of-factly. Intarr grumbled something into his chest and resumed mashing the cards together in his fists.

"So, it's essentially useless?" Haedian queried.

"Not at all," Yalo stated firmly. "It's served me well so far, after all. And on top of that the power _does_ damage their shields, while the alarm does a nice job of distracting them away from that fact. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to shoot that turian Varinus in the head so easily with just one shot." A pause. "Even then I'm surprised it didn't need two or three."

"Actually, I helped a little bit there," Haedian answered, and Yalo cocked his head to one side. "When I passed close to him he had his back to me and I disabled them." A pause. "Terrestrial medium armour, simply activate a small laser scalpel for two point five seconds _precisely_ five centimetres to the left of the main power unit. Severs connection to kinetic barriers _without_ severing power, thus doesn't alert the user to loss of shields."

"That's a rather specific piece of knowledge for a salarian biologist to have," Intarr said, narrowing his eyes at Haedian.

"Well, I _am_ a genius after all," Haedian said with a satisfied grin. "Besides, dissecting armour isn't that different from dissecting a living creature. You just have to know where all the internal parts are and where to cut them for the results you want."

"Gonamida was right... you _were_ more trouble than you were worth," Intarr said, shaking his head.

"Perhaps, but you still took me because I'm the best," Haedian smiled.

"Actually you were third on our list," Intarr said, dealing out some crumpled cards on the table they sat at. "We wanted Palmera and some other guy named Solus."

"Solus?" Haedian burst out, the upper insides of his eyes almost disappearing from the frown.

"Yeah. We only took _you_ because we couldn't find him."

"Bah! You were better off with _me_!" Haedian exclaimed, crossing his arms. "Solus is a hack!" A pause as he looked away, his eyes narrowing. "I've had it with this game!" He got to his feet. "I'm going to get some sleep."

The other two watched him leave and the edges of Intarr's mouth curled up into a smile. "He may have won more hands than me, but I feel like I won overall... just from making him do that."

"I'm just glad you don't want to crush his skull in any more," Yalo responded. Intarr's eyes widened as he turned to the quarian.

"I never said I didn't. There's a difference between wanting to do something and actually doing it. I'm just exercising my control and restraint. I've gotten good at it over the past few years. Better than most krogan. The urges are still there, but I can hold them back. Still... things have been pretty quiet for me lately, and it seems the rest of you are having all the fun. Am I actually going to get to _do_ anything on this next visit?"

"That depends how things play out," Yalo answered. "I want you along in case things go wrong, but as much as you'd probably prefer that they did, I'd personally prefer that they didn't."

"Yeah," Intarr chuckled. "I have a feeling all krogan have at least _something_ inside them that hopes a deal will go sour, just so they get the chance to have a good fight. Especially the young ones."

"Look..." Yalo began, trailing off as his voice became more serious. "You don't have to stay if things are too quiet for you. You can leave any time and go and do what you want. You don't _owe_ me anything."

Yalo eagerly watched Intarr's expression shift. He was hoping he'd take the suggestion and just leave. The more the krogan was around, the more guilt Yalo felt about the earlier betrayal. Things would be simpler if Intarr just left. A familiar voice of a loved-one long lost danced through his head at that moment.

_But are you feeling guilty because of what you did to him, or because you're afraid he might find out?_

Yalo didn't have much time to sort out his own internal conflict before the krogan answered him in a somewhat bitter fashion.

"And do _what_? Go out there and be a gun for hire for some criminal who deals in weapons, red sand or slaves?" He snorted loudly, looking away from Yalo. "That might be fine for most krogan, but not me. I need some kind of purpose beyond gunning down one set of filth for another set of filth. It doesn't have to be something noble like what you or Gonamida were doing, but it has to be something that has a purpose. I mean an _overall_ purpose, not just doing odd-jobs for creds. I don't care how long we krogan live, that's just a waste of it."

"And when this is all over, what then?" Yalo inquired.

"I don't know. I'll go and find something, I guess," Intarr said with a deep sigh, and then paused for a few seconds. "Maybe I'll try and find some more scientists and try and continue what Gonamida started again. It would be nice to think that perhaps in the next decade or so we can _both_ save our respective people."

Yalo didn't know what to say to that, and just remained silent. Thankfully Intarr got to his feet fairly soon, stretching his neck and rotating his broad shoulders within his pale armour with a declaration of, "Right now though, I think I'll get some sleep," before he stomped off towards the rear of the ship, leaving Yalo once again alone in the cockpit with his thoughts.

It was a while before _Karina_ arrived at Noveria, which first appeared as a sphere of bluish white in the distance through the main window. Lylanya had joined the others in the cockpit as soon as the ship had arrived in the Pax system, wearing the same formal dress she'd graced herself with when meeting Minister Kalahao on Mannovai.

"This is Noveria Approach Control to unidentified ship," a stern male voice said through the ship's comms as soon as they'd entered orbit proximity. "Please identify yourself prior to entering atmosphere."

"This is Captain Alanthios of the independent vessel Karina," Lylanya responded from her usual chair up front, slowing the craft at the same time. "Requesting a berth at Port Hanshan. Please advise."

There was a brief silence before the stark voice responded. "Karina, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defense grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."

"I am carrying a passenger who wishes to do business with Binary Helix, along with two of his associates and myself."

There was no answer for almost half a minute before the voice at the other end returned. "Landing access granted, Karina. Proceed to the following coordinates. Be advised we will be confirming identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded."

"Acknowledged, Approach Control," Lylanya answered and cut communications, then resumed descending upon the frosty world.

"That's a little extreme," Intarr grunted from behind Lylanya and Yalo. "I'd have thought they'd just not let us in if that were the case."

"They probably wouldn't," Lylanya answered.

"So... they wouldn't let us inside, _and_ they'd impound the ship?" Intarr said. "What then?"

"You krogan like the cold, don't you?" Haedian quipped from the rear. Intarr turned on him with a snarl, making the salarian back away nervously.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Yalo said. "Even my suit would only protect me for so long out in that."

The quarian pointed ahead at the vast peaks and dips of endless snow, which immediately contrasted the warmer climate where they had just been. Port Hanshan would be a fairly hard place to find by sight alone, given the constant flurry of snow whizzing around it and the fact that it was almost completely camouflaged under blankets of white that looked so pure one could think it might make up for all that was dirty beneath them. Yalo had remembered one human describing Noveria's snow appearing as "the yang to its population's yin." Of course he didn't quite understand what that meant until he did some further research into human cosmology, but after that the comparison had always stuck with him. Noveria's reputation for corruption and greed was hardly a secret, and the same went for its controversial experiments and its link to recent major events, not least of all the attack on The Citadel. Yalo was hoping that some of that corruption and greed would help him out, hoping that the fact that the planet was not legally part of Citadel space would give him an opportunity and advantage he otherwise may not have. Yalo didn't know much about Binary Helix, but what he did know encouraged him. They had enemies, and they weren't afraid to do the work and research that other companies would steer well clear of to give them the advantage. These were merely bonuses though, for Yalo wanted something rather specific from them that only they could offer, and he was simply hoping that their reputation would mean his counteroffer would be well accepted by them.

Eventually a hint of darker metallic grey could be seen beneath the slew of alabaster as _Karina_ eased through a modest opening to dock at the port; the ship shaking a little as the electromagnetic docking clamp latched onto the left wing of the craft and then again as the docking platform connected soon after. On the way out Lylanya grabbed a thick jacket from a locker near the main door, throwing it to Haedian.

"Sorry if it's not your colour," he said to the salarian upon noticing the odd glance he had given the purple garment with the fluffy collar, and then she regarded Intarr. "And sorry, but I don't have one in your size."

"My armour is thick and so is my hide," Intarr said with a weighty shrug. "I can handle a bit of cold."

"You all need to toughen up," Yalo said. "I doubt it'll be cold once we're inside."

"That's easy to say for somebody with a suit that provides a optimal temperature no matter where you are," Lylanya answered.

The four left the warmth of _Karina_ and stepped out of the tunnel that sucked onto the side of the ship like a giant leech. They had wandered into a plain, open area filled with dull concrete floors and walls that did nothing to make the place feel any more warm and inviting than the exterior did. Aside from the odd crate here and there streaked with a bit of brightness, the pale greys on all sides seemed to invite the cold in beyond any protection via observation alone. Following the concrete walkway around a corner, the group made for a rectangular archway, beyond which lay some thick glass doors. Just beyond the archway and between them and the frosted clear means of entry stood three individuals: a human woman, a tall turian and a human male. The latter two were armed, and stood back a little on either side of the seemingly unarmed female. As Yalo and his group approached, the woman stepped forward, placing one hand up in a gesture that told them to halt.

"Hold it right there," she said. "You may not enter Port Hanshan until we have verified your credentials."

The brown-eyed woman had slightly paler skin than the average human, with facial features that hinted that she was mostly of Asian descent and jet black hair pulled back into a bun. She spoke in a firm manner, yet came across as somewhat friendly as well, as if to say "I don't want to be an annoyance, but this is procedure and you _will_ follow it." The human male behind her had scruffy brown hair and looked as if he hasn't shaved in about a week, with tan-coloured shin and pallid grey eyes that seemed as icy as the rest of Noveria. The turian's skin was brown for the most part, but his nose and mouth were of a charcoal complexion, and the way both his eyes and his weapon were trained on Yalo and his group seemed to dare them to try something. All three were wearing light Guardian armour, which was hardly surprising considering Elanus Risk Control Services were in charge of security here and made the stuff.

"Exactly what kind of credentials would we need?" Yalo answered. "We're simply here on business, nothing more."

"Your arrival was not scheduled," the woman said straightforwardly."We don't allow anybody in without ID confirmation, especially when we haven't been previously notified of your intent to visit us without a proper flight plan or documentation."

"It doesn't help that Binary Helix has no records of any scheduled appointments with you," the human male added, raising one eyebrow.

"You don't even know who I am," Yalo protested.

"What's your name then?" the male security officer asked, fidgeting in his armour a little while thin clouds briefly formed before his mouth.

"Yalo'Pala nar Lerta."

"Not on their list," he smirked, then turned to his superior. "Can we send this mishmash back where they came from, Captain? Or, y'know... shoot 'em or something?"

"No!" the Captain barked at him. "If they can show some proper identification and it checks out they can pass."

"I think I have something that'll suffice," Lylanya said, stepping forward as she retrieved a small, thin piece of rectangular plastic from within her coat and handed it to the woman before her. She examined it, her eyes widening briefly before her eyebrows twisted and she looked back at Lylanya.

"I'll... I'll have to verify this," the Captain said, her voice as full of doubt as her expression. She turned towards her human counterpart. "Watch them until I come back, Sergeant Boch."

"Aye aye, Captain," Boch said, raising his weapon to train it on the four newcomers.

The Captain nodded at him, then looked at Lylanya briefly sideways. "Please wait here until I return." Her eyes moved to Yalo. "This shouldn't take long."

The officer turned and left, heading through the curved glass doors to the left that swished open to let her inside. Sergeant Boch spoke up.

"Might as well save some time and surrender any weapons you have now. We don't allow them inside."

"She hasn't even finished checking yet," Yalo said, crossing his arms at his chest and shifting his weight to his right leg.

"Well... _I_ thought that you guys were all pretty damn sure that you would be getting inside with that card your pretty blue friend gave Captain Matsuo," Boch said casually. "Unless of course you have a reason to think otherwise, in which case we can just skip to the bit where I shoot you."

"I'd like to see you try," Intarr challenged, taking a step forward. Boch narrowed his eyes at the krogan, but a flash out the corner of his eye drew his attention towards the asari.

"As would I," Lylanya said slowly, her body now shimmering with blue light as she sneered back at the human guard. He glanced her down and then up again before snorting, sending out a plume of frosty breath.

"Whatever," he half-muttered. "Just hand over your weapons. You'll get 'em back when you depart."

Yalo unfastened his pistol from his thigh while Intarr took the assault rifle from his back, both of them handing their respective weapons to the turian. Boch looked beyond Yalo towards Haedian.

"What about you, salarian?"

"Please! I'm a doctor, not a mercenary!" Haedian dismissed. "I thought you'd have recognised a famous scientist such as myself. Don't you even _know_ who I am?"

"No," Boch shrugged. "Doctor Mordin Solus?"

"No... I am not _that_ particular... individual," Haedian seethed through gritted teeth, his bulbous eyes narrowing as he struggled to make the last word anything less than aspersion. The sergeant shrugged, then looked back at Lylanya, whose glow had now faded. "And you?"

"Beyond my biotics I have no weapon," she answered formally. "I'm simply Mister nar Lerta's business partner."

"Well, if you're lying the weapons detectors inside will tell us anyway," Boch said after nodding to his turian cohort to take the weapons away.

"Unless I'm carrying a geth in my pocket," Lylanya said. The sergeant narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled. "Yes, I heard about that."

The sergeant looked as if he was about to say something, but the doors behind him swung open again and through them stepped his superior officer.

"It checks out," Captain Matsuo said, handing the card back to Lylanya. "You're free to enter Port Hanshan. Apologies for the delay, but procedures are procedures. Especially after some recent... incidents."

"Seems she knows about that already," Boch said to his captain, flicking his head in Lylanya's direction. Matsuo looked over her shoulder at the sergeant. "Given who she is, I'm not surprised."

"Thank you, Captain," Yalo said with a polite nod. "Have a good day."

The four new arrivals walked past the two security officers and through the entrance doors, with all but Yalo noticing the immediate difference in temperature and sighing with content almost simultaneously.

"Much better," Haedian said. "I have no idea how the salarians who live here can handle it."

"They probably just never go outside," Lylanya said. "And I can't blame them."

Following Yalo's lead they all walked up the left staircase before them, passing the simple water-feature that trickled past to their right. Passing through the weapons detectors without incident, Lylanya immediately grabbed Yalo's shoulder to stop him, and once he'd turned to regard her she approached an information stall on the left wall. There stood a human woman at a holographic terminal wearing a dress not that different from Lylanya's, though in a brighter pink rather than the darker tones of the asari's. She had mocha skin and short brown hair, with bright pink lipstick that shone like wet paint where light touched it.

"Hello, welcome to Port Hanshan. May I help you?" she said in a pleasant voice.

"Yes, could you direct us to Binary Helix?" Lylanya queried.

"No problem," the woman smiled. "Just head down the stairs behind you, then take the elevator to the main plaza from there. There are signs there that should direct you, but you can't miss it. And if you do, well... just ask one of the security officers posted there."

"Thank you," Lylanya said with a polite bow.

The sundry quartet made their way down the gentle stairway where the woman had directed them and approached the elevator just to the left of the foot of the stairs. While they waited for it to descend, Yalo turned to Lylanya.

"So what does that card you gave the Captain say you are, exactly?"

"It says I'm my mother," Lylanya smirked. "We look a lot alike so it's not a hard bluff to pull off."

"How often have you done that?" Haedian queried.

"Six or seven times now I think. I try not to _too_ often. Especially during times when it's public knowledge she's somewhere else."

The lift arrived, the doors opening with a smooth whish. It wasn't a lot of space in the mobile compartment, making things a little cramped as they got in. Like the entrance, the lift's doors were made up of panels of glass in a slightly curved shape, as was much of the rest of the elevator. The panes were thick, warping and blurring the appearance of anything viewed through them, and fittingly resembled blocks of carved ice more than glass. The overly pleasant voice of what was probably a male human uttered a generic greeting as the elevator rose up to their floor before the doors opened again granting them access to the main plaza.

"Would it hurt them so much to get some warm colours in this place?" Lylanya commented as she surveyed the area, shaking her head a little.

Like most of what they'd seen the plaza before them seemed just as glacial as the exterior, with more concrete, ceramic and plastic in pale grey tones and bathed in soft blue lighting. The whole area was a series of balconies and staircases that led from the raised are they'd entered from down to several large windows where only ice and snow could be seen. Between each staircase was either some large rocks, a plain water feature or a water feature with some large rocks. Dotted about were some tables, chairs and couches, and the only thing even remotely close to the asari's request were the orange-brown receptacles that contained small plants or trees that seemed more of a lazy afterthought than a proper attempt at decoration to the point where even the holographic company logos that twisted, turned and slid around the vicinity came across as more genuine.

Passing a small emporium to their right, the group navigated the stairs and walkways until they came across the Binary Helix offices. Taking the lead, Lylanya stepped up to the main desk to speak with the finely dressed young human woman sitting at it; a dark-skinned woman with shoulder-length black hair in a dark blue dress suit.

"Welcome to Binary Helix. How can I help you?" the woman greeted pleasantly, instinctively making a face as she saw the motley crew behind the asari and then quickly trying to hide it with a new smile.

"I represent Mister Yalo'Pala nar Lerta, a quarian businessman who would like to schedule a meeting with your current CEO about a possible business proposition."

"I'm afraid Killira T'Nama is rather busy as of late and almost never gets personally involved in such meetings unless the party involved has a long-standing business relationship with Binary Helix," the woman explained. "However, we can schedule a meeting between you and one of our representatives. They will pass on the relevant information to Chief Executive Officer T'Nama for approval if the meeting goes well for both parties and an arrangement can be made from there."

"That will suffice," Lylanya answered, purposefully sounding disappointed, yet resigned. "How soon can this meeting take place? Mister nar Lerta does not like to wait too long."

"We can fit you in tomorrow morning at around ten fifteen local time," the woman responded, bringing up a bright orange holographic display and manipulating it. "You will be meeting with a Mister Morton."

"We will be here," Lylanya said. "Thank you for your assistance."

"Thank you for choosing Binary Helix," the woman smiled back. "Have a pleasant day."

Lylanya swung around to join the others, and they all left the entrance lobby and returned to the main plaza, where Lylanya immediately turned to Yalo, looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't consult you but I thought it was best if I just played it out like that," she explained. "I know you probably wanted to get in there quickly, but trust me... that's not how these things work. Frankly we were probably lucky to get in as early as tomorrow morning."

"It's all right," Yalo answered, the tone of his voice letting her know he wasn't bothered at all. "I can be patient. I've waited this long, I can wait another day." He paused. "I'm actually surprised that I've got this far this quickly as it is."

"Don't forget, you had help," Intarr noted from behind him.

"I haven't," Yalo replied. "And don't worry, if this all goes well, you'll be well compensated for it."

"And if it doesn't?" Intarr queried.

"Then I'll have more to worry about than not paying three individuals who could all quite easily kill me."

Yalo started to head towards the elevator again only to find Lylanya stepping out in front of him and blocking his way.

"Then I think it's about time you told us exactly what you have in mind," Lylanya said, crossing her arms.

"I will," Yalo answered. "Right after the meeting tomorrow."

Yalo tried to sidestep around her, but she blocked him again, pressing one hand to his chest.

"No, I think you should tell us now," Lylanya said firmly. "If we're going to go ahead with this plan of yours, I think we need to know what's going on. Especially if you expect us to all play along in the meeting tomorrow. How are the doctor and I supposed to help you negotiate whatever it is you want if we don't even _know_ what it is?"

"But things could change depending on how things play out," Yalo explained. "If things don't go my way, I'm going to have to find an alternate path. Or at least take additional steps."

"And do you think things have a better chance of going your way if we know what's going on, or a worse one?"

Yalo pondered the asari's question and then let out a resigned sigh.

"Okay then. I suppose you're right. But not here... back at the ship."

A sphere of grey and brown slowly rotated, its translucent image lighting up the faces of those who observed it. Almost at the same time, the beady red, bright blue and large dark eyes all moved to regard the one whose eyes were hidden, and whose visor reflected the image of the holographic planet.

"This is it: the future home of the quarian people," Yalo said with pride.

The quarian had called them to the cockpit, which had a holographic projector that doubled as a small star map that projected up from the centre of the floor. Yalo was standing between the pilot seats at the front, leaning his elbows on their headrests while the others sat on the long seats surrounding the projector; Lylanya and Haedian to Yalo's left and Intarr to his right. Six eyes watched him raptly, with questions ready to form on the tips of their tongues, and the krogan was the first one to loosen his.

"What's so important about _this_ place?" he rumbled with a heavy shrug.

"Its size and location, for one," Yalo explained. "But more importantly what it contains. In this case, it's brimming with eezo. Because of this, its a very sought after place, but it already has an owner: Binary Helix."

"Makes sense a company like that would want a place such as this," Haedian said. "Element zero is one of the best resources one can have for all of these areas of expertise. What does this have to do with you and the quarians though?"

"Yeah," nodded Lylanya. "If anything, this is just going to make it _harder_ for you to get this planet."

"Normally planets rich in eezo cost a lot to mine due to the radiation from the dead star that created the substance, and this is no exception. Except for the fact that its in a system where the sun is perfectly fine, so the radiation, while still a factor, will eventually dissipate after a few decades, making it a perfectly livable environment after that time has passed. And perhaps with the help of Doctor Haedian's device, even sooner than that."

"How is the source of element zero _so_ rich then?" Lylanya asked.

"Because the source is not natural to the system its in," Yalo explained, then activated his omni-tool to alter the holographic image; pulling out into a different cluster and into a different system. At the centre of the system was a large pulsar surrounded by three planets. The hologram in Yalo's hand twisted and bleeped and soon the pulsar was replaced by a large sun and an additional planet appeared, quite close to the sun itself. Yalo pointed at this little planet.

"This is where it began. Then, a few hundred years ago, the sun went supernova."

Yalo demonstrated by showing the sun becoming the pulsar, and the destruction of the small planetoid nearby as it did. The perspective of the image changed, zooming in to show a large chunk of what was once the planet being jettisoned by the explosion out of the system and then into the neighbouring one Yalo had first shown them, where it struck the planet he'd begun his demonstration with.

"The size of the asteroid that struck the planet was significant, and because of its proximity to the supernova that birthed it, it consists almost entirely of element zero," Yalo said, sounding almost proud. "It took centuries for it to get there, and even more for it to be discovered and claimed by Binary Helix. There is still a lot of radiation present after this time, due mostly to the mass of it, but it should be fine in less than half a century. But at the moment Binary Helix haven't even begun to mine it, and they're basically holding onto it until they feel its safe. From what I can gather, they still feel the costs outweigh the benefits at the moment, especially due to recent financial problems they've had."

"So you were planning on buying it from them?" Lylanya asked, her brow raising. "No offense, but financial problems or not, I don't think that a big company would be willing to sell a planet teeming with eezo to a quarian."

"That wasn't exactly the original plan," Yalo said. "But now that we have Haedian's device-"

"_Prototype_ and _research_," Haedian interjected. "We don't actually have a fully-working device yet."

"Now that we have Haedian's _prototype_ and _research_," Yalo corrected, "we can offer them something a bit more substantial than mere credits. In fact, we may even get some credits out of _them_. After all, I'm going to be offering them so much more."

"I still don't understand," Lylanya said. "Are you going to give them the device to help them with their mining in order to let them get their eezo faster with the agreement that your people get the planet after they're done or something?"

"No," Yalo said, and his voice seemed far less enthusiastic than it had been before. In fact, it sounded troubled and reluctant.

"Then what else are you giving them? How exactly _does_ this involve your people?"

Yalo looked down and sighed deeply, then raised his head again to see the same six eyes staring at him with a curiosity and eagerness between them that had to be the first thing these three companions had ever shared in their time together. Yalo took a deep breath, steeled himself and answered.

"I'm giving them... to them."

"Huh?" Intarr uttered.

He was confused, as was Doctor Haedian judging from the way his brow twisted. Lylanya on the other hand had wide eyes filled with concern, which made Yalo suspect she knew exactly what he meant. He sighed again and explained clearer.

"My people... the quarians. I'm giving them to Binary Helix."

"What do you mean 'giving them' to them?" Intarr asked.

"He means he's selling his people to them," Lylanya said, eyes narrowed and accusing. "That's it, isn't it? That's what you've been going on about all this time... why you've been feeling guilty. You're planning to betray your own people somehow and lead them into a trap, giving them to Binary Helix to use as free labour to help mine their eezo, since quarians are already all prepared for it with their suits. They'll have an unlimited labour force they won't even have to pay."

"Hmmm... quite ingenious actually," Haedian said, rubbing his chin and nodding, and clearly not fazed at all by Yalo's revelation. "The quarians are very efficient and resourceful. They'll be able to strip the planet of eezo in only a few years."

"It's not 'ingenious' at all, it's barbaric!" Lylanya protested, then regarded Yalo again. "How can you do this to your people?"

"I'm doing it to save them," Yalo said. "I don't expect you to understand or agree with me."

"You're not saving them, you're turning them into slaves!"

"Turning them into slaves?" Yalo repeated, his voice and posture getting more aggressive. "We're _already_ slaves. Slaves to our ships." He gestured to the window. "Slaves to our air filters." He gestured upwards. "Slaves to these suits!" He plucked a piece of fabric at his chest then let it snap back. "I can't _make us_ something we already are."

Yalo turned around, looking away from Lylanya and the others and moving his attention to the stars flickering by outside. His tone grew calmer, but also became firm and confident.

"No, what I'm going to do is _free_ them, in the same way The Geth freed themselves from us... in the same way so many other slaves have been freed in the past. I've done the research, across many cultures over hundreds of years. When a group are enslaved for a long period of time, they'll eventually rise up against their masters and get rid of them, freeing themselves and becoming independent once more."

Yalo turned around, looking straight at Lylanya again who was just sitting there frowning.

"And my people will do the same. They'll be persecuted and mistreated for a while, and, yes, they'll suffer and lives will be lost, but that will make them strong, and they'll gain the strength to fight for their freedom. They'll fight, and they'll win. Too long have my people grown weak over the years, being whittled down and slowly dying on a fleet of ships rather than thriving and growing on a planet like we should be. We're not living, only existing. And that's not enough any more. We've grown too complacent and languid over the last few centuries, and too many of us are worried and overly cautious to do what is needed to save our people. We can't go back home and we can't get rid of The Geth, but nor can we just keep drifting on our ships forever. The Council won't help us. We need to find a new homeworld, and _I'm_ going to be the one to do it."

He turned back towards the window, placing one hand against the glass as coruscant speckles danced in his visor as he made one final declaration.

"No matter the cost."


	14. Chapter 14

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 14**

"I want you to stop this."

The request from Lylanya was hardly surprising, though at the same time Yalo would have thought she would have known his obvious response. She probably did, but as he gazed across the room at her he noticed both her stance and expression were defiant and deadly serious. Still, there was something he saw in her eyes that betrayed the otherwise strong demeanor she possessed, along with the way her voice slightly wavered. It almost looked like desperation. She contradicted herself in her own actions, with her wording as if a request and her stance as if an order, but her eyes and voice as if a plea. Yalo just watched her for a few moments, then finally mirrored the asari's own stance -favouring his left leg and crossing his arms- before finally giving the obvious response.

"You know I can't do that."

"I'm not sure I can continue to help you with this any more," Lylanya said, looking at Yalo sideways. "Not if you continue down this path."

"Are you saying you want me off your ship?"

Lylanya's violet lips twisted up into one cheek a little and her eyes narrowed slightly. She was thinking of the best way to respond to that, since there was no clear answer. She eventually bit her bottom lip slightly, her eyes squeezing half-closed as she endeavoured to find the right words for the situation. "I'm saying... I'm saying that I want to help you help your people, but that I don't want to do it like this."

"There are no easy answers to this," Yalo stated, his voice devoid of emotion. "If there were, the quarians would have had a home long ago and this wouldn't have been a problem that needed solving. And not all problems can be solved as cleanly or trouble-free as you may hope."

"I've lived long enough to know that every problem has more than one solution," Lylanya answered.

"True," Yalo said. "But the best solution isn't always the _best_ solution. And sometimes a little pain and suffering are needed to get the job done. People don't become strong through tranquility, they grow strong through adversity. The greater the adversity, the stronger they'll become."

"Assuming they can survive it," Lylanya added confidently.

"They will," Yalo said, his own confidence a few steps above her own. "Their time on The Migrant Fleet may be somewhat of a respite since the Geth drove us from Rannoch, but we have not yet grown so complacent and weak as to be beyond help. That's why I have to act now, before it's too late. I _will_ save them, despite the cost."

Yalo turned away, intending to leave Lylanya's room to return to the cockpit, only to be stopped by her next words.

"And what of that cost? How will you go on knowing what you are doing to your people? How will you ever forgive yourself?"

He smiled behind his visor, not that she could see this. He knew what she was trying to do: she was playing on his emotions and self-loathing, and trying to guilt him into doubting himself through it. It wouldn't work though, because he had already come to terms with this long before he'd even set out on his journey.

_Or at least that's what you tell yourself_, he heard his sister's voice echo through his head. He pushed the thought aside.

"I won't. I never will." Yalo responded. "In the end, something good will come of my actions. I will never be seen as the instigator of it all... never be seen as the saviour of my people. But I will be. The quarians will be free once more and have a world of their own. Yes... at the end of it all I will have hurt many and caused a lot of suffering. But no matter what I do nothing will change that. I will _never_ have personal condonation and I will not be torn apart by that which cannot be helped."

Yalo paused, looking back over his shoulder at the asari.

"And that is how I will go on. Because I _accept_ it."

"Then can you accept that there may be alternatives?" Lylanya asked, closing the gap and clasping her hands together. "Alternatives on a similar path, I mean. Perhaps you can make some kind of a deal that doesn't result in your people becoming slaves."

"This from an asari. The race that brought us Illium."

"That's not fair," Lylanya frowned. "That's different."

"I suppose the otherwise illegal drugs, weapons and smuggling are different too?"

"Look... all I'm saying is that you look for alternative options along the way. If you achieve the same results with the least amount of suffering for your people, what harm does it do to seek alternatives?"

"I'm willing to take alternate routes should the opportunities arise," Yalo admitted. Lylanya shook her head.

"Not good enough. _Look_ for those opportunities. Seek them out. Examine your plan from every angle and see where you can do things differently." She paused. "If you promise me you can do that, then I'll keep helping you. Fully. If not, then I don't care _how_ good the credits are, I won't help you any more."

"And what if I don't come up with anything?" Yalo asked.

"When you're at that point where there's no going back and you've made up your mind, I'll leave. And I'll pray that The Goddess forgives me for my part in it."

Yalo cocked his head to one side, regarding Lylanya closely. As before her stance and expression were defiant, but there was no contradiction in her eyes this time.

"You... you really mean it, don't you?" he said. "You really _do_ want to help my people. Almost as much as I do."

"I think they deserve another chance. Every species deserves the right to live. The asari have seen too much suffering, death and war in our long lives to think that the quarians deserve to fade away on their ships and be forgotten because of one mistake made generations ago."

"Then you have my word," Yalo said with a nod. "I will seek alternatives. For the moment though, I will proceed as planned. The negotiations with Binary Helix will continue."

"Perhaps the offer can change though," Lylanya suggested, as Yalo turned to leave again. He paused in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder at her.

"Perhaps," he admitted, though he sounded doubtful.

* * *

The next day arrived slowly, or so it seemed to Yalo. He spent most of the time in _Karina_ just thinking about things, while the others had spent most of their time in Port Hanshan doing various things, with Lylanya mostly shopping, Haedian looking into some of the possible new technologies coming out of Noveria and Intarr at the bar. When it hit quarter past ten though, all four of them were back at Binary Helix where they were approached by a sharply dressed young human male in a dark blue suit with light green trim. He had short blonde hair parted to one side that was probably dyed, a slightly hooked nose and light blue eyes. His skin tone was neither light nor dark, sitting squarely in the middle and he had a small goatee beard. The first thing he did was smile and reach out towards Yalo with one hand.

"Mister nar Lerta, hello," he said, shaking the quarian's hand as he raised it to meet the human's. "I'm Bert Morton, one of Binary Helix's executives here on Noveria." He paused. "Did I get that right... Mister _nar_ Lerta? Or is it just Mister Lerta? I'm sorry, I haven't dealt directly with a quarian before."

"I'm not entirely sure myself," Yalo answered frankly. "Just 'Yalo' will be fine."

"Excellent," Bert said, clapping his hands together. "If you'll just follow me to my office we can talk business."

Bert motioned to Yalo and the others to follow him before walking past the main reception to the left and heading down a long corridor. After passing four doors on their left, he opened the fifth and walked inside. The others followed, taking in the modest office as Bert took a seat at his desk. It was a fairly simple little room, with the main desk at the far centre, a few filing cabinets on the right wall, two seats in front of the desk and a large pot plant in the far right corner of the room with long, thin blade-like leaves flaring upwards. There was no window in the office, with a screen displaying a tropical beach on it on the wall behind Bert instead, complete with dynamic rolling waves and tall trees swaying gracefully in a light breeze. Whether it was a place on Earth or a tropical planet, Yalo didn't know, but he welcomed the sight.

"Please, have a seat," Bert offered, gesturing to the chairs before his desk. "Sorry there's only two of them, I don't usually deal with more than a couple of people in a business negotiation."

Yalo and Lylanya both took a seat each while the others stayed standing. Nobody had noticed the flare of disappointment on Haedian's face as he had briefly stepped towards the seat on the left only to have Lylanya beat him to it. Leaning on the desk with his elbows, Bert smiled past the hands clasped before his mouth at the group before him.

"So, a quarian, an asari, a salarian and a krogan walk into a Binary Helix office," he said cheerfully. "There's _got_ to be a joke there somewhere."

They all looked at each other briefly, and Lylanya leant over to Yalo and whispered "human humour" to him in a derogatory fashion, to which he just replied, "ah" understandingly. Getting no positive reaction, Bert cleared his throat and moved on.

"So, Yalo. Before we begin, I think you should introduce your colleagues to me. Just so we know who we all are." His eyes roamed to Lylanya. "Especially this beautiful lady here."

"I bet you say that to all the asari who come in here," Lylanya answered with a smirk.

"Just the beautiful ones."

"I'll bet you say _that_ too," Lylanya answered. "And I wonder, do you _really_ think it's going to get you in bed with me this evening?"

"Huh?" Bert said, clearly caught off guard. "No, I didn't mean... What I meant to say is..."

"It's okay, males of your species often make fools of themselves around us," Lylanya said in mock reassurance. "I'm used to it. In either case, I am Yalo's business partner, Miss Alanthios. This is Doctor Haedian, our chief scientist, and Intarr, our... protection."

"Well... I..." Bert said awkwardly, and then he coughed. "It's, uh... nice to meet you all. Now that we've all been, uh... introduced, what exactly can I and Binary Helix help you with?"

Yalo took a little longer to respond than he had intending, having been a little stupefied by Lylanya's response to Morton and worried that it may have jeopardised things. Thankfully things seemed to be back on track, and with the human possibly on the back foot too. Gathering his own thoughts back on track as well, the quarian answered.

"I'm interested in acquiring a planet currently in the possession of Binary Helix," he stated.

"A planet of ours?" Bert answered, leaning back a little and raising one eyebrow. "That's quite the request. We don't actually _own_ many planets, as such. And though we _do_ have a few that we have control over and have purchased for scientific research and resource gathering purposes, few are public knowledge. In either case, purchasing _any_ of these would be extremely expensive. And no offense, but I wasn't aware there were multi-billionaire quarian businessmen out there."

"I'm quite serious," Yalo said. "And I have a piece of technology that I imagine Binary Helix would be very interested in acquiring in exchange. As well as... other offerings."

"Okay, now... _before_ we negotiate any further, which planet in our possession, so to speak, were you interested in?"

Yalo produced a datapad from one of the many pockets in his suit, tossing it casually on the desk in front of Bert. It slid briefly across the smooth surface before nudging the human's left arm, and he turned it around the right way before picking it up and studying it. Initially his eyebrows jerked upward, three creases forming on his forehead for a brief moment before the skin stretched flat again with a follow-up frown from the man. Neither his head or body moving, Bert's eyes flicked from the datapad to Yalo, his mouth now a flat line.

"You _must _be joking," he told Yalo. "This is..."

He trailed off, his eyes returning to the datapad as he leaned back in his chair. The sentence that was about to be birthed was aborted in exchange of a new one.

"How did you even find out about this place?" He clarified with an addendum. "That we _owned_ this place?"

"I have my sources," Yalo said plainly. "It's not as much of a secret as you think." The quarian paused. "You think you were the only one who knew of what it contained? Of its potential?"

"Be that as it may, it's out of the question," Bert stated. "I may not be T'Nama, but I can tell you right now, the answer will be 'no.' You can't have it."

"And _you_ can't use it," Yalo stated, leaning forward. "It's brimming with eezo, and you can't even get it yet. Not without it costing you a _lot_ of money. And right now, you can't afford to extract it, even if you know it'll mean profits in the long run."

Bert narrowed his eyes at the quarian, as if to challenge him to his claims. As if reading the human's mind Lylanya spoke up.

"You've been linked to Saren, the turian Spectre who went rogue and was stopped by Commander Shepard," the asari said. "Sure, there may be no direct proof, and it's all speculation and rumours. But rumours travel fast, and they alone have been enough to cost you deals and make your business partners and investors wary. Especially when your competition will do everything it can to milk those rumours for every drip of poison they can use on you."

Bert Morton was now glaring at Lylanya; the once lustful eyes he had regarded her with only a couple of minutes earlier replaced by narrowed, suspicious ones. Yalo spoke up before he could respond diverting his attention away from the smirking asari.

"Also, before you make a decision so swiftly, keep in mind that what we're after is the _planet_. I never said anything about wanting the eezo inside."

Bert's forehead twisted in confusion, and his once inwardly pursed lips twisted to one side. The human pressed his tongue against the inside of his left cheek, moving it around a little as he looked at the datapad again with questioning eyes.

"Okay..." he eventually said, looking between Yalo and Lylanya. "Then why would you _want_ it? Element Zero is the only resource of any real value on the planet. Sure, there are small quantities of various other minerals that could be useful, but not in any significant quantities."

"Typical human. Looks at something and _only_ sees the credits," Haedian said.

"Like I said, we just want the planet," Yalo said. "And we're even willing to help you out in extracting the eezo to get it."

"How?" Bert asked, his expression and tone clearly doubtful, yet curious.

"With a certain device nobody else possesses," Yalo answered. "And labour. And once you have your eezo, all we want is the planet that's left."

"I am the genius behind the device, by the way," Haedian said, leaning in front of Yalo briefly with a large grin. Bert raised an eyebrow at this then looked back to Yalo.

"What kind of labour are we talking about here?" the human asked, leaning forward on his desk again with the tips of his two index fingers tapping against each other a few inches from his mouth.

"Quarian workers," Yalo said after a brief moment's hesitation. He wasn't looking at her but he could feel Lylanya's stare like a burning sensation across the right side of his face.

"How many are we talking here?" Bert asked next.

_All of them_ was the thought in Yalo's mind, but he chose not to say that. "Millions," he managed to get out, and then his voice grew distant. "Millions upon millions."

"Millions?" Bert repeated, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Where in hell do you get _millions_ of quarian workers from?"

"Not hell, Mister Morton," Yalo answered. "Space. The Migrant Fleet."

"That big collection of ships you and your people are traveling around on? What... do you guys have some unemployment issues or something? Too many jobs, not enough workers... something like that?"

"Too many quarians, not enough planets," Yalo corrected. "And by not enough planets I mean zero. _That's_ why we want this one."

"So... your people want to make it their new homeworld, and in exchange, they're willing to work several decades mining eezo to get it?" Bert asked.

"Not... _exactly_..."

"Then what?"

Yalo tried to come up with an answer that could satisfy the human businessman and get across what he needed without it sounding as bad as it really was. Before he could manage to get anything out though the salarian scientist behind him blurted out the situation.

"Don't you get it, human? He's giving the quarians to you as slave labour."

Yalo turned to face Haedian who just blinked at him.

"What? That's what it is. No need to dodge around the issue." The doctor paused, then frowned a little. "Are you scowling at me? You are, aren't you? I can't tell, but I can tell." Another pause and a deeper frown. "Stop it! I _know_ what you're doing, y'know."

Yalo's attention was soon drawn to movement out the corner of his eye as Bert Morton got to his feet and pushed the datapad back towards Yalo.

"I'm sorry, this meeting is over," he said firmly, though sounding a little worried. "We have no further business with you. Please leave the building quickly, if you don't mind."

Bert strode towards the door quickly, only to be blocked by a large krogan who stared down at him menacingly. Intarr leaned in close, allowing the human to smell his breath as he spoke, which elicited Bert screwing up his face.

"You haven't even heard the offer yet."

"I don't care," Bert said, first looking at the krogan before turning back to Yalo and Lylanya; the two of them now standing before his desk. "Binary Helix will not get itself involved in slavery. Especially not of an entire _species_. I'm not the boss of this company, but I can tell you right now that what you're asking is out of the question!"

"It's not like it's in Citadel Space," Yalo countered. "And isn't Noveria free from Council interference?"

"That's not the issue," Bert said, frowning suddenly and giving the krogan another quick glance. "We can't afford to be linked with _anything_ like this at all. There's no way this could be kept a secret, and what's left of our reputation would vanish."

He looked to Lylanya. "You said it yourself: we've already been linked to Saren recently. Binary Helix has to keep its nose clean. And even if it didn't, I'd seriously doubt we'd help you with this."

Bert looked back up at Intarr. "So are we done here, because you're not getting any help from me with this?"

"That depends," Intarr growled down at the human. "When we leave this room are _you_ going to forget this conversation ever came up?"

"Are you _joking_?" Bert said with honest shock and dismay. "I want nothing to _do_ with this at all. And that includes admitting that I even discussed it in any way, shape or form. As far as I'm concerned, I wish I'd forgotten it already."

Intarr narrowed his eyes and growled low, studying the human before him to ascertain how genuine he was.

"Let's go," Yalo said. Intarr nodded, thumping the door panel and then stomping out through the exit. Bert jerked his head towards the exit and the three remaining aliens headed towards it, first Yalo, then Haedian and finally Lylanya. The asari stopped beside Bert and spoke up.

"And as a reminder, Mister Morton: if you ever forget to _forget_ this meeting, I'll have you know that I was very good friends with Matriarch Benezia."

Bert Morton's brow twitched, which was just enough for Lylanya to see her point had sunk in. Smiling sweetly at the reaction she turned her back to him and swayed out to join the others.

In the corridor outside Yalo leaned against the opposing wall, his arms crossed and one foot placed flat against the vertical surface behind him.

"What now then?" Haedian asked with a frown, shifting the case in his arms to get a better grip of it. "I'm prognosticating that you have an substitute resolution?"

"Bert Morton made a mistake," Yalo said, glancing back at the human's office door as it clicked shut. "Now it's time to erase that mistake."

"You're going to kill him?" Intarr asked. Yalo's shoulders jerked as he let out a brief snort of amusement before he shook his head.

"No. Binary Helix won't deal with us. But they _may_ deal with another company entirely."

Yalo uncrossed his arms and transferred his weight from the wall to his feet once more. "It's time to go to Plan A."

"I thought that _was_ Plan A?" Haedian said almost sarcastically.

"No, that was Plan B," Yalo stated. "Plan A was my original plan. Plan B didn't come about until I discovered that little toy of yours."

Yalo's visor flashed the reflection of a nearby ceiling light as he jerked his head at what Haedian was carrying. The salarian frowned.

"And he didn't look at it! I carried this all the way here and that stupid human didn't even _look_ at it!"

"He didn't even _ask_ about it," Intarr noted with a smirk.

"Or even _that_!" Haedian said with dismay, then he looked up at the ceiling and made a cry of despair.

"Stop discouraging him," Lylanya chided the krogan. "He whines enough when he's happy."

"Let's go," said Yalo, making his way down the corridor towards the main Binary Helix lobby again. "We've got another trip to make."

"Where to?" Lylanya asked, jogging a little first to catch up with the quarian as the others fell in behind.

"To a place where credits and corruption dominate," Yalo answered.

"Omega?" Intarr asked. Yalo shook his head.

"No. We're going to Earth."


	15. Chapter 15

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 15**

Like the previous interplanetary transits, the trip from Noveria to Earth was one filled with questions being thrown at Yalo from his three companions.

The four of them sat in _Karina's_ cockpit, waiting as the ship transported them to the nearest relay in order to connect with the Charon one in the Sol system. The distance from the Horse Head Nebula to Earth's Local Cluster was approximately 1500 light years, and if it weren't for the mass relays_ Karina _and her inhabitants would be in for a journey lasting about 150 to 160 days. That was assuming the journey was constant and didn't even factor in the time needed to stop for supplies or the need to discharge the FTL drive every so often. Traveling within systems was quick and simple, but what looks close on a galaxy map is far further in reality, and only seemingly made close by the convenience of the relays themselves. Even the humans, despite being a relatively new species on the galactic stage, had colonies sprouting up on the edge of Citadel Space -and possibly beyond- thanks to the ancient devices.

Last time Yalo was bombarded with such queries it had been things like "how are you going to lure the entire Flotilla into your trap?" and "how are you going to trap the largest fleet of ships ever to be amassed without them destroying everything you throw at them and/or simply leaving?" This time the question was simply, "what does going to Earth have to do with it?"

"Humans are nothing but the galaxy's crying babies: they want their bottle, even though they're not even old enough to drink yet," Yalo answered with initially. "That was something an asari Matriarch apparently said about them. Humans are an arrogant and proud race. They learn fast and take every opportunity that comes to them, with little care as to what effect it may have on things beyond what they can gain. They crave power and wealth, and feel they should be a dominant force in a universe that's still new to them. A salarian ambassador once said, 'humanity tried to leap into the vast ocean of galactic politics before they could even learn to swim in a small pond.'"

"Enough with the speeches, quotes and stating of the obvious," Haedian sighed with a frown. "Get to the point of it all."

"Binary Helix may not deal with us, but they _may_ deal with somebody else," Yalo said. "A human businessman, for instance."

"And how, precisely, do you intend to get a human businessman to deal with us?" Haedian asked, voice dripping with doubt. "You alienated that one on Noveria quite a bit as it was. What makes you think that any further attempts are going to be more successful?"

"Aside from the terraforming device in our possession, we're going to use some blackmail," Yalo answered. "With a little help from Lylanya."

All eyes turned to the asari, whose own visual receptors were suddenly wide with surprise. This was definitely news to her.

"Me?" Lylanya managed to ask after the astonishment had worn off. "How?"

"At first I thought the idea of digging up dirt on a seemingly squeaky-clean human businessman on his own territory would be near impossible," Yalo answered. "But as soon as I witnessed your ability to manipulate others, I knew it would come in handy should this opportunity ever come up. The revelation of your ability to _literally_ read minds was, as the humans put it, 'the icing on the cake' for me. Thanks to your skills a once arduous task may now be quite easy. Comparatively anyway."

"You want me to seduce somebody?" Lylanya asked, a smile creeping to her face. "I hope it won't be _too_ easy. That would take away some of the challenge. And fun." She paused. "Then again... it _is_ almost impossible for anybody to resist me."

Yalo smiled from within his helmet. He'd taken a lot of criticism from her recently, so it was good to see the old Lylanya that he'd first let join him back again. Ever since the incident on Mannovai she'd seemed different; as if she'd let a shield down and let him in to see her real self. She tended to have this shield raised when Intarr and Haedian were around, but even then there were times when it had wavered a little. Yalo realised that it was a protection thing, as well as part of her act. It was not that he didn't like the more down-to-earth Lylanya who seemed to care more, it was just that she was far more useful to him when she was in her typical cocky, confident and narcissistic mood.

"Humans and businesses try to blackmail each other all the time," Haedian said, still not sounding convinced. "Especially human businesses. What makes your plan any more special than any of this person's business rivals'?"

"Part of it is due to who the person is," Yalo answered.

Tapping the haptic interface nearby, the quarian produced a basic identity profile on the holographic projector of _Karina_'s cockpit. The image associated with it was of a human male who appeared to be in his late twenties, but according to his birthdate was actually closer to his early forties. With light olive skin and hazel eyes, he had a lean nose framed by sharp cheekbones and lofted above a thin moustache. Like the dark wisps above his upper lip, his neatly parted hair was jet black, and a small stud of gold adorned his left ear. Most humans would probably consider him handsome, and he had a pleasant smile on his face that gave him the look of somebody you could trust.

"This is Ivan Levine, not only one of Earth's most prominent businessmen, but one of its most loved," Yalo explained. "He owns several companies that, while not big on the galactic scene, are rather high profile amongst his own species. One of these -Cirrostratus Industries- deals with human expansion and colonisation, and would be very happy to acquire a planet rich in eezo. And likely terraforming technology too. But the main point is this: he got to the top without even a spot of dirt on him. He's famous for being the human face that human's trust, with no signs of corruption, illegal activities or aggressive business techniques."

"In other words, he's wallowed in the mud of corporate business and yet came out smelling like a rose," Lylanya said.

"Exactly. He must have something to hide. And we're going to find out what it is."

"You know, quarian," Doctor Haedian began reluctantly. "I can't help but notice that many of your plans seem to depend on great uncertainty in order to function. For instance, a plan that will only work _if_ the salarian doctor agrees to come with you. A plan that will only work _if_ the quarians are actually lured into the right place. A plan that will only work _if_ the slavery actually make them uprise. A plan that will only work _if_ the seemingly clean human is dirty. A plan that... well, I trust the point is made."

"It's served me well so far," Yalo said.

"Except for Noveria," Haedian frowned.

"Except for that," Yalo admitted.

"The doctor does raise a good point though," Lylanya said, raising a hand. "I'm sure others have tried to dig up dirt on this guy and his companies before. Why will I succeed where they failed?"

"Because the others were primitive humans?" Intarr posed. The salarian rolled his eyes.

"This from the member of a race who, prior to us raising them up from the dirt, made human _cavemen_ look sophisticated and cultured."

"What's a 'caveman?'" Intarr asked.

"A human made entirely out of rocks with a gaping hole in its chest," Haedian mocked.

"I'll put a hole in _your_ chest in a minute!" the krogan roared, grabbing Haedian by the throat.

"Gentlemen!" Lylanya growled as she got to her feet. "Or should I say _not so_ gentlemen... I'll have no fighting on my ship!"

She grabbed Intarr's arm and he reluctantly let go of the salarian, leaving the doctor gasping and wheezing for breath. She frowned back and forth between both of them.

"If you want to fight, you'll have to take it outside."

"But we're in FTL travel," Intarr answered. Haedian coughed.

"Yes... because if we _weren't_ it would be _so_ much safer to just walk off the ship," the salarian respired; his hands at his throat as he glared up at the krogan.

"Well, I guess there won't be any fighting then," the asari smirked as she crossed her arms definitively.

"You'll succeed because you'll be literally reading his mind," Yalo said, finally answering the asari's earlier question. "I doubt any of his competition would have had somebody with your talents at their disposal."

"It is unlikely," Lylanya admitted. "Few asari have the talent. Because so few are as talented as I."

"Oh, brother," Intarr said with a shake of his head. "If he likes you even half as much as you do, then this plan's a cinch."

"One problem," Haedian frowned. "I still don't understand how this was your _original_ plan. You'd need to have known of Lylanya's abilities prior to meeting her."

"My plan hasn't been original for a while," Yalo admitted, shutting off the hologram. "It twists and changes as the situation does. It's always in a state of flux. To keep a plan rigid makes no sense, and if I'd done that I would probably be months, or even _years_ away from my goal. But thanks to circumstances -and, yes, all of your help- I've made a lot of progress."

Yalo turned to look out the main viewscreen; blue lights flashing in his visor from the roentgen rays, gamma rays and blue-shifted infrared heat produced by the faster-than-light travel.

"It's almost like it's been my destiny," he said, his voice distant as he leaned on the headrest of the seat before him. "Perhaps my life did have a purpose to it after all. And this is it."

It took Yalo a little while to realise he had been away in his own little world. He brought himself out of it and turned back to the others, who were just sitting there staring at him.

"So what's the plan when we arrive then?" Lylanya asked to cut through the silence.

"You and I will go to the Cirrostratus Industries head office," Yalo said, looking straight at Lylanya. "Much like we did on Noveria, we'll try and organise a meeting with Ivan Levine. This time we'll make sure it's with him in person. And if possible, we'll try to make it in a less formal setting. I've read that human's quite commonly use a meal as a means of making business arrangements. They also often use these as a means of courting a mate. Perhaps you can use this common ground as an advantage."

"The fact that human males seem to have a particular fetish for your species probably won't be a detriment either," Haedian added, raising a brow. "Not that batarians, turians or krogan are much better. I personally find it disgusting."

"You probably prefer other salarian males," Intarr sneered. Haedian frowned at him.

"I'll have you know that I had a rather prestigious breeding contract set up during my early years with The Salarian Union," Haedian defended. "Until it fell through."

"What happened?" Lylanya asked.

"My mate-to-be was on a new salarian colony when it was struck by a considerably ample seismic disturbance and she disappeared into a fissure that had formed beneath her," he explained, speaking more like he was giving a mathematical lecture than detailing the death of somebody close. "Like I said... it fell through."

"Shame you weren't visiting at the time," Intarr grunted, earning a sneer from the salarian.

"Doctor, I made need some of your scientific expertise while Lylanya and I are away too," Yalo said, making Haedian abandon his sneer to blink swiftly at him with astonishment.

"Huh?"

"I need you to help think up a way I can disable approximately fifty thousand ships simultaneously," Yalo explained. "I considered creating a virus, but I don't think I've got the mastery to make one on such a scale that will work fast enough, spread fast enough, or get through the protection systems in the ships. On top of that, writing a virus to attack a fleet of ships filled with quarians is somewhat akin to trying to burn down a fire station."

"Have you hit your head sometime between the time you recruited me for this and now?" Haedian asked, crossing his arms. "I'm a _biologist_. I deal with the study of living organisms. I'm not a technological problem solver. I know next to _nothing_ about ships... especially quarian ones."

"Are you telling us the _great_ Doctor Haedian is limited to only one field of study?" Yalo mocked, crossing how own arms now. "Maybe I really should have tried to find this..."

Yalo trailed off and looked at Intarr. "What did you say that other scientist's name was?"

"Doctor Solus."

"Yes," Yalo nodded, facing Haedian once more. "Maybe I should have got this Doctor So-"

"Okay, okay!" Haedian interrupted, throwing his arms up into the air in defeat. "I'll... I'll see what I can come up with." He looked to Lylanya. "Do you have a terminal I can use? Preferably one that can allow me access to the extranet."

"I'll unlock the main console and give you access when we arrive at Earth," Lylanya said. "Which shouldn't be too far away, actually. I might go take a shower and get ready."

Sliding out of her seat, the asari strode gracefully towards the rear of the ship; disappearing when the rear cockpit doors slid closed in her wake. The doctor sighed and got to his feet too.

"And I might look over some reference material to help you with your Flotilla-crippling plan," he said. "Perhaps there's something in the Astronomical Department's notes and files from my former project that can provide some ideas and insights."

The salarian departed through the same way Lylanya had gone only moments earlier, leaving Yalo and Intarr alone in the cockpit. The krogan snorted as soon as Haedian was gone from his sight.

"Good riddance," he said, then swung his massive skull back around to face Yalo. "So what do you want _me_ to do during this whole thing?"

"Just stay here and guard the ship for the moment. Depending on how things go, we might need you later. If Lylanya can't persuade Levine maybe _you_ can."

"Just feels like I haven't contributed much lately. I pledged by loyalty to your cause, but I've mostly been a tagalong."

"If Lylanya ends up walking on me I may need you yet," Yalo said with a frosty voice. "Her morality is admirable, but it may prove... problematic."

"I have to admit, I didn't expect your plan to be as, um... as... Well, I didn't expect it to be what it was, put it that way."

"I don't have much choice," Yalo said, shaking his head. "The Council won't let us have a planet in Citadel Space. Simply setting up in the Terminus Systems is out of the question. The Conclave and the Admiralty Board can't come to a decision; last time I recall some of them wanted to find a new place, while others wanted to go to war with The Geth and take back our old homeworld. Pretty soon they'll be fighting amongst themselves at this rate. That's why _I_ have to do something now, or our ships will be nothing more than a collection of drifting mausoleums for a race that faded into oblivion due to lassitude. Even if my plan doesn't work, it's better we die in a worthy struggle for survival and a chance to live than wait for death to take us for our own apathy."

"Still, it seems kind of strange coming from somebody whose first words to me were, 'you shouldn't let others suffer, krogan. To let somebody suffer needlessly is beyond cruel.'" Intarr said.

"To let somebody suffer needlessly _is_ cruel," Yalo admitted with a nod. "But if somebody suffers for a _purpose_, well... that can be another matter entirely."

* * *

It wasn't long until _Karina_ burst out of the Charon relay; a blue streak of light dissipating as the ship arced past the nearby dwarf planet of Pluto and towards the human homeworld of Earth.

"I've never been to Earth," Intarr commented. "Anybody know what it's like?"

"Humans would tell you that their little world is the most diverse and unique place in the universe," Lylanya answered. "But then they tend to think that pretty much everywhere else is 'the ice planet' or 'the desert planet' or 'the jungle planet' or something."

"Or in the case of the krogan, 'the dusty _ruins_ planet,'" quipped the doctor, drawing a sneer from Intarr.

In less than a minute the blue-green marble known as Earth appeared before them. Home of over 11 billion inhabitants, from what Yalo had read the planet contrasted itself. While much of the population had thrived since the discovery of the ancient ruins on Mars, there were also less affluent areas that had apparently barely moved forward much at all technologically over the last 100 years. While the entire planet was under the dominance of the Systems Alliance, Earth still remained a divided world made up of several nations, most notably the United North American States, the European Union, and the Chinese People's Federation. The head office of Cirrostratus Industries was located in a city under the rule of the first, and was in fact its capital: Washington D.C.

Landing on Earth didn't seem as much of a hassle as landing on Noveria did, and after a quick identification check was made on the craft, Lylanya's ship was granted landing clearance. After passing through the orbit debris and layers of clouds, _Karina_ descended gracefully towards the southeast coast of the continent of North America, finally landing at Washington Spaceport as per the instructions given to Lylanya.

"I'd advise leaving any guns behind on the ship," Lylanya told Yalo. "Humans are known for their strict weapons policies at their spaceports. _Especially_ when it comes to aliens with weapons."

"I shouldn't need it anyway," Yalo said, and he unclipped the Stinger from his hip; letting the pistol transform before placing it on the kitchen-area bench. As Lylanya disappeared into the ship's decontamination chamber, Yalo twisted around to address Haedian and Intarr.

"Do what you can while we're gone, Doctor," he said with a nod. "Make sure nobody gets in who isn't us, Intarr."

They nodded in unison and then the quarian was gone from their sight. Both looked at each other, frowning slightly.

"Great. I'm stuck here looking after _you_ of all people," Intarr grunted.

"Just stay out of my way and I won't bother you," Haedian said. "I'll even make it easier for you: _I'll_ be here at the main console in the cockpit. _You_ just need to be somewhere else."

"No problem. I have no desire to be anywhere near you," Intarr grunted. "With one exception."

"And that would be?" Haedian asked, crossing his arms roughly and raising one brow. Intarr smiled with a wicked, cruel grin that sent a shiver down Haedian's spine.

"The day that Yalo decides you're no longer useful to him," the krogan answered, a final murderous glint shining in his eyes before he turned his back to the salarian and stomped off towards the cargo hold.

* * *

After passing through customs at the spaceport and being asked a lot of questions, Yalo and Lylanya were finally given access to the city of Washington DC itself. Not since being on Palaven had Yalo witnessed such a large and yet condensed place filled with so many inhabitants. He had barely got a chance to take much of it in by the time their X3M rapid transit arrived to take them to their destination, but he did manage to note that the local time was 3:35pm. The entire way there Yalo's visor was glued to the window, taking in everything he could.

Earth architecture seemed to favour pale colours, mostly in a brilliant whites and creams or flavours of the lighter greys, with the occasional pale blue thrown in here and there. Initially there were many low, flat buildings, surrounded by plain-yet-elegant highways, paths and causeways that swept over the simple vegetation that served as an intermediary to break up the otherwise artificial structures around it. Many of these itineraries flowed towards an area of denser urban growth in the distance, where tall arcology skyscrapers dominated the horizon and set to challenge the skies to make a claim of their own. They seemed massive in scale even far into the distance, and as Yalo and Lylanya drew even closer they became even more impressive and monumental.

"It reminds me a little of some of the cities on Thessia," Lylanya noted, a tinge of sadness in her voice. "Our architecture tends to be smoother and rounder in design, and use darker, deeper colours. But aside from that the parallels aren't wanting."

"This could have been us if it wasn't for The Geth," Yalo said, his own voice now melancholic. "Or if The Council hadn't been so harsh. And I'll bet almost none of them treasure what they've got."

"While it's true that humans are known for never being satisfied, they actually have a saying about that," Lylanya said, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips. "'Sometimes you don't appreciate what you've got until it's gone.'"

"I'll bet my ancestors saw the truth in that," Yalo sighed. "Unfortunately for me and my kin, it's merely gone without ever having it."

"Perhaps the same could apply to the quarians now too though," Lylanya said. Yalo cocked his head to one side, so she continued. "Perhaps it's not such a bad thing to appreciate The Migrant Fleet. After all, where would you all be without a planet to live on _and_ without your ships?"

Yalo didn't answer, though from the slight, jerky movements of his head Lylanya thought he was going to for a moment. Instead he just turned back towards the window on his side of the shuttle and continued to stare at the looming buildings.

The structure that their vehicle brought them to wasn't quite as gargantuan as many of the ones they had witnessed and spent minutes in the shadows of, but it was nonetheless very tall and very impressive. As the cab hissed up and open, Yalo immediately noticed the near flawless complexion of the skyscraper; a factor almost everything in the nearby vicinity shared. As Lylanya stepped out and straightened her dress, Yalo caught his own reflection in a large metallic object nearby that was probably some form of abstract human art. After tugging at a portion of his semi-worn dark purple sash, he looked around at the others: both those simply passing by on the street and the odd ones either heading up the stairs to the building's entrance or coming down out of it. One sharp dressed human man drinking something was momentarily distracted by Yalo and decided to take a wide berth around the quarian. Finally Yalo's eyes fell on Lylanya standing there in her beautiful dress, and from her expression he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"This isn't going to work is it?" he said, talking a few steps towards her with his shoulders slumped. "I'm not going to be able to go in there and set up a deal like this."

He looked back at the lustrous monument nearby. "I'm just a piece of 'Flotilla Trash' amongst humanity's business elite. They're probably expecting me to rob them, or at the very least beg for credits."

"Perhaps we can find a tailor willing to give you something a little more stylish," Lylanya suggested. Yalo shook his head.

"No, it's okay. The first part of the plan hinges on you anyway. You'll probably do better alone than with me there. All you need to do is get his attention and organise the meeting. Once that's done, _then_ we can see about maybe improving my attire for the meeting itself."

"Are you sure?" Lylanya asked.

"Positive. Just be as vague as you can about the details. I'll give Ivan the specifics when it comes to the right time."

"Okay," Lylanya nodded. "I'll contact you if anything comes up."

"I might take a look around this place. I'll meet you back where when you're done," Yalo said. "I don't often say this, but... Keelah se'lai."

"That's 'good luck' or something, right?" Lylanya said, one brow raising quizzically.

"In this case, that's pretty close," Yalo answered.

* * *

Dr. Haedian sighed in frustration as the door to the cockpit hissed open and the hulking figure of Intarr plodded into the compartment.

"I thought I told you to stay _out_ of this area!" the salarian grumbled, sitting in Lylanya's pilot seat with his right hand slowly scrolling a vertical bar of orange light. "Or do I have to dumb it down more? How about this: Cockpit, bad. Anywhere else, good."

"I don't take orders from _you_!" the krogan huffed. "I can go where I want."

"I thought you said you didn't want to be anywhere _near_ me," Haedian frowned, looking back over his shoulder at his irritant. "And yet you insist on coming to the one place I am!"

"I was bored. There's nothing to do on this tin can."

"Why don't you go outside and pester some humans then? I've got work to do."

"Can't guard the ship if I'm nowhere near it now, can I?" Intarr grunted. "For a supposed _genius_ you aren't that smart sometimes."

"This from the member of a species whose greatest scientist is whichever one can make the biggest bomb to destroy yourselves. But hey... don't let _me_ stop you. It would do the universe a favour."

"You're one of those self-righteous salarians who actually _approved_ of the genophage, aren't you?" Intarr grumbled.

"Not at all," Haedian said whimsically. "The genophage was far too humane a weapon to use on your lot. I'd have preferred a solution that just wiped you out entirely."

"And yet you were trying to undo it for us," Intarr grinned. Haedian snorted in protest.

"Only because I was at gunpoint! And even _then_ I was working as slowly as possible. We all were." Haedian's voice became cocky again. "Thankfully, you all failed."

"For now," Intarr said. "We'll see what happens in the future."

"You're wasting your time, krogan," Haedian scoffed. "Aside from you, _all_ of your krogan chums have been arrested. Which is still more than they deserve. Lylanya should have made a poison that affected only krogan and killed you all instead of simply releasing a nonfatal ga-"

Haedian cut himself off, realising he'd already said far too much without thinking first. The krogan leaned in close to him, making Haedian smell his foul breath with every syllable spoken.

"_What_ did you say?"

"I meant _me_," Haedian tried to defend, a nervous chuckle following the pronoun. "I said 'Lylanya' but I meant myself. _I_ should have released a krogan poison on you."

Intarr's molten eyes narrowed before there was a blur between them and Haedian felt the krogan's hand in a viselike grip around his throat. Haedian was hoisted out of the hair and held up by the neck. He then felt the wall pressing into his spine as his attacker leaned in close.

"I don't believe you," Intarr growled. "You're going to tell me everything about what _really_ happened on Bersilius, salarian."

"And if I don't?" Haedian choked.

"Then I'll kill you," Intarr smiled. Strangely enough, Haedian smiled too.

"You wouldn't dare," he uttered, followed by a loud gagging noise and another gasp for breath. "You know Yalo still needs my help."

"I get the feeling whatever it is you're hiding will make me question whether I even want to follow him any more."

"If that's the case then, you'll kill me anyway," Haedian wheezed. "So what difference does it make?"

"That's probably true," Intarr admitted casually. "But how _quickly_ and _painlessly_ you would die is up to you, and that normally big mouth of yours."

* * *

Lylanya soon found herself near the summit of the Cirrostratus Industries tower, the appropriateness of the company's name not lost on her during the ascent in the building's external glass elevator. The view had been impressive, with a mostly clear blue sky allowing the sun to shine grandly off the surrounding edifices. Stepping out of it into a wide hallway with glass on one side and a wall dotted with doors on the other, Lylanya was again bathed in the warm natural light during her walk towards the two large doors at the end of the hall, passing the odd tropical pot plant and suit-clad human now and then. As she approached the double-doors, the lens of a mounted camera perched above them latched onto her, and two bright green beams passed across her form; one horizontally and the other vertically. When left hand to right hand and top to toe had been scanned, a ruby light where the doors met blooped to emerald and a pleasant female voice was heard from an unseen speaker somewhere nearby.

"You are cleared and authorised to enter, Miss Alanthios. Please proceed through the doors."

Lylanya touched the green panel and the doors before her slid aside, disappearing within the walls on either side. Two more sets just beyond them also glided out of view, revealing that there was in fact three layers of them between the hallway and Ivan Levine's personal offices. Beyond this Lylanya saw they led to a small room with a large desk in the centre. It was fairly ornate and appeared to be made out of wood, which made it stand out after the plain, streamlined and slightly sterile interior she'd seen since entering the building. The rest of the room contrasted with what prefaced it too though, with a rich red carpet replacing the cold grey linoleum and the wood-paneled walls giving a warmth that only the window-strained sunlight had provided before hand. There were three other doors besides the one she had come in through: one on the far wall and the others to the left and right. Beside the one on the left was a large painted portrait of Levine himself with a signature that looked like 'Wurzbach' in the bottom right corner, while behind the desk was a large bookcase filled with what was probably old human literature of some kind. Also behind the desk sat an attractive young human woman in a business jacket and skirt. She had bright green eyes and deep, dark red hair that couldn't be natural in colour pulled back into a ponytail. As Lylanya approached she beamed the asari a very pleasant smile.

"Welcome Miss Alanthios," the woman said. "I am Mr. Levine's personal secretary, Talia Ivanova. I believe you requested a meeting with Mr. Levine regarding the sale of a planet rich in element zero to Cirrostratus Industries?"

"That's correct," Lylanya nodded, her mannerisms serious and businesslike. "It's not quite as simple as that, but those are the basics of it. The rest I'd prefer to speak with Mr. Levine about in person. I understand that your company is very interested in expansion of the human race and believe that both of us could profit from an arrangement. I _could_ deal with other companies, but from his reputation I believe that Mr. Levine is somebody I will be able to trust."

"I see," the young woman nodded. "Under normal circumstances Mister Levine wouldn't deal with an unfamiliar directly, but given that a rich source of element zero is involved I suspect he'll be quite keen to talk business with you. I know for a fact that a regular source of eezo is something that Cirrostratus has been seeking as of late. We're not as 'out there' as we'd like to be."

"I understand," Lylanya smiled. "You humans, after all, are still little fish in a big pond, as your saying goes. In any case, when would it be possible to schedule a meeting with Mr. Levine?"

"He's not actually in today," Talia admitted. "He runs several other companies after all, so it's basically the Vice President of the company and myself today. He has a full schedule planned for tomorrow, but I should be able to arrange an appointment with him in a couple of days time."

Talia's hands twisted and slid in front of her as she operated the tactile holograms glowing above her desk. Despite appearing old-fashioned and archaic the furniture still had a haptic interface built into it somehow. She waved a few things across, then tapped at another to maximise what was clearly a calendar, then poked at one of the squares within it to read something too small for Lylanya to make out.

"There's an opening at one in the afternoon on Friday," Talia said, and then she smiled. "It's the end of the week and he'll be back from his lunch break, so he should be in a good mood for you."

"Do you think he would he object to a lunch meeting?" Lylanya asked. The rendezvous coinciding with the meal itself would fit into Yalo's plan. "I've heard your species sometimes likes a more casual atmosphere when dealing with such matters."

"I'll see what I can arrange," Talia smiled. "Though I cannot speak for him, I'm sure that Mr. Levine would enjoy your company for lunch. Perhaps I can convince him to schedule it at the time of your meeting instead."

"Thank you, Miss Ivanova," Lylanya said, giving the secretary her loveliest smile and observing the pretty woman briefly before casually wandering up to the painting to her left. "The man himself, I take it?"

"That's him," Talia said. "Painted by one of Earth's most prominent artists."

Lylanya examined the painting carefully, but at the same time took note of the reverse image of everything else in the room that reflected in the pane of glass that covered the piece of art, most notably Talia herself. Twisting her head quickly she noticed the sudden movement of the young woman's eyes and the way her cheeks resembled her vermilion hair a little more. Lylanya couldn't help but smirk as her suspicions were confirmed.

"Speaking of local dining," Lylanya said as she approached the desk with a slight swing of her hips. "Is there anywhere you could recommend? Not just for arranging this meeting, but to try the local cuisine. Perhaps even a place with a good nightlife to take in some Earth entertainment. I'm going to be here for a few days after all."

Talia seemed to be taken off guard briefly, blinking quickly a few times before stammering a little and answering.

"There's a place called 'Telesto' not far from here. It's a nice restaurant, as well as a bar and night club. It's just down the street, about three blocks south of here." She paused. "I go there quite often... it has a nice atmosphere."

"Well then, I'll have to check it out this evening then," Lylanya smiled sweetly. "If you're there tonight, I might see you there," she added with a quick wink before heading for the exit.

* * *

Yalo was standing before a very tall, thin monument when he heard Lylanya's voice through the speaker in his helmet.

"We've got a meeting scheduled in a couple of days time," she told him after he had confirmed to hearing her initial message. "But beyond that, I think I may have a way of speeding things up and perhaps getting a little info ahead of schedule. Info that may help with our negotiations."

"Oh?"

"If the bait I've just laid gets taken, I've got a date tonight," Lylanya responded. "With somebody who is about as close to Levine as one can get. If all goes well, I'll contact you tomorrow morning with what I've learned."

"I'll head back to the ship then," Yalo said. "Perhaps Haedian has figured something out by now. If not, we can work on something between us. I'll talk to you then."

"Okay. Before I go, is there anything in particular you want me to find out about Levine?"

"As much as you can about anything he doesn't want the public to know," Yalo stated. "Business dealings, funding, cover-ups. He's _got_ to be hiding something."

"Okay. Until tomorrow then."

Lylanya's voice cut out and Yalo made his way to the nearest rapid transit terminal, which was only a couple of minutes' walk away. Soon the tall buildings were behind him, leaving him with thoughts as to what Lylanya might find out. He also considered the possibility that she might find nothing at all. _What if Levine really is clean?_ Yalo thought. _What if he really is an honest businessman who has managed to make it in the cutthroat profession somehow without so much as a mark?_ He would find out soon enough, and he knew that worrying about it wasn't going to alter the outcome or make things automatically work out for him, but that didn't stop his stomach from churning with a dab of discomfort. When he realised he was back at the spaceport sooner than he had thought, he decided it was best to think about another priority: finding a way to disable The Migrant Fleet.

Entering the docking area, Yalo suddenly remembered that it was Lylanya that had the docking pass. He was half-expecting to need to contact her again to get it, but thankfully the two humans between him and _Karina_ recognised him and let him enter.

"We don't get a lot of quarians through here," one of them said casually. "So you didn't exactly slip our minds."

"Neither did your friend," the other said, a lewd smirk on his face.

"That's enough of that!" barked the other. "Comments like that aren't appropriate." He turned to Yalo again. "Sorry, sir. We meant no disrespect."

"It's okay," Yalo said. "She said that males of your species tended towards this type of behaviour in the presence of asari."

Yalo passed by and found the docking bay where _Karina_ was berthed. As he approached the spacecraft he noticed the main door opening before he was even close enough to manipulate the panel. In the doorway stood a large, familiar figure.

"Intarr," Yalo said with a friendly nod.

"Yalo," Intarr responded, rows of yellow teeth bared into a wide smile as the light glinted off his small, crimson eyes. "I was wondering when you'd get back."


	16. Chapter 16

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 16**

As Yalo walked up to the main door of _Karina_, a meaty, three-fingered hand stretched down towards him. Yalo grabbed hold of Intarr's paw with one of his own, letting the krogan help hoist him up into the spacecraft.

"Thanks," Yalo said. "Lylanya may be a while, she's got a plan of some sorts. Beyond that we're stuck here for a couple of days anyway."

"Is that a fact?" Intarr rumbled. "Does that mean I can leave this tin can at some point and have a look around?"

"Sure, if you don't cause any trouble," Yalo shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

"So I can do anything I want so long as I don't cause any trouble," Intarr said, followed by a rough snort. "Seems to be a contradiction there."

"Haedian worked anything out yet?" Yalo asked, the slight jocosity of his voice indicating the humour of Intarr's prior comment wasn't lost on him.

"I think he did," Intarr said with a grin. "He's definitely got something he wanted to talk with you about."

"Guess I'd better go and talk with him then."

Yalo turned away from the krogan, the act itself seeming to wipe the smile from Intarr's face and cause his eyes to narrow at the departing quarian. Intarr glanced over his shoulder, his gaze traveling through the open hatch and beyond to observe an obvious security camera on the ceiling. Narrowing his eyes a little more he made a barely audible murmur of gravel before closing the main hatch again and stomping deeper within the ship.

Yalo found Dr. Haedian at the main console, sitting in the chair usually reserved for Lylanya. The salarian jumped a little at Yalo's voice.

"Found something yet, Doctor?"

Haedian looked over his shoulder, one eye appearing larger than the other. There seemed to be what might have been described as a diffident frown above them as he regarded the quarian, and his lips twitched a little before he responded.

"S-s-sort of," he stuttered, his voice sounding nervously unsettled. "I may... have something."

"Is something wrong?" Yalo asked. "Has Intarr been giving you trouble or something?"

Haedian's eyelids flickered, the focus of the eyes beyond them then moving past Yalo to the hulking form just a few feet behind him. As the krogan lifted his head to return a stare, the blue lights of the ship's main compartment that had initially shone off his analogously hued crest shifted to reflect wildly in his eyes, giving them an impression of power beyond their means. Haedian's eyes returned to Yalo's visor, his heading shaking in small, succinct jerks.

"No no no. Nothing like that," came the answer, followed by a deep breath and a more controlled, convincing answer. "I just always get a little nervous around krogan when there's nobody else around to keep an eye on them." A pause. "And to _shoot_ them when get violent." Another pause. "Well, slightly more violent than usual."

"In that case, what _might_ you have?"

"I said 'may' actually," the doctor corrected in his usual acerbic manner, accompanied by a flicker of frown. "And to your credit I actually got the idea from _you_... after you told me exactly how you came to track me down on Mannovai."

"I'm listening," Yalo responded, sounding genuinely interested.

"Well, initially I had considered trying to generate a massive electromagnetic pulse, but then realised that your ships would probably be shielded against such a tactic. On top of that there would be almost no way to create a single EMP field or wave _large_ enough to reach the entire fleet. There's also the possibility that it could affect other electronic devices nearby crucial to the plan, including any ships you yourself may have in the area.

"So I came back the the idea of a virus, despite your profession that the concept was folly. While you are quite correct that planting a virus to spread through a fleet of quarian ships would likely result in it being caught and found before it could spread too far -let alone disabling all the ships for a decent period of time- if one could come up with a dormant virus in a similar fashion to the one you used with me perhaps it could succeed. Particularly if said virus was, firstly, simultaneously brought to life across all ships at once, and, secondly, one that _physically_ damaged the main ship's systems or engines in order to render the vessels harmless. Assuming your Migrant Fleet's course and heading is determined and governed by a mothership of some variety, the virus could be distributed via the communications network by which your course changes are relayed amongst the fleet. The virus itself wouldn't be triggered until you had reached your destination, whereby you could manually do so at a moment of your choosing."

"What about weapons? Even when maimed The Migrant Fleet would have a formidable arsenal at its disposal. And then there's any smaller, armed ships aboard the larger ones that wouldn't even be affected at all."

"If the virus could harm all the ship's systems... or even just the _power_ systems, then it would cripple them in every way," Haedian pondered. "Weapons would be inoperable and your fighters wouldn't be able to leave their bays without power to the doors. The Flotilla would be forced to surrender or many ships and lives would be lost."

"That would be next to impossible though," Yalo said, shaking his head. "Quarian ships are not of a universal design. Don't forget that we're nomads of the galaxy, scrounging and cannibalising what we can to keep them floating through space at all. Even two ships of an identical class and type could have very different internal workings."

"It's a pity we can't take advantage of your biggest weakness," Haedian pondered. "If we could target your weak immune systems somehow -or at least threaten to- then we might get a massive advantage."

"With rare exceptions we wear the suits constantly, even aboard our ships," Yalo noted. "The only way that would be possible is if each individual quarian was attacked. It's not like you can infect one suit and the disease would spread through all the others. There's no common air filtration system that's fleet wide or anything like that."

"You're wasting your time," Intarr rumbled from behind them both. "If it was gonna be that easy to take down the entire quarian fleet, somebody would'a done it _long_ ago. There've probably been richer than norm merc groups who have been thinking of a way to seize the entire flotilla for decades now."

There was a long moment of silence, broken as Yalo looked up from his feet and spoke.

"The food," he said, his voice barren of feeling.

"Come again?" Haedian queried.

"We target the food," Yalo stated. "There are three Liveships at the centre of the fleet. They provide food to the entire Flotilla and are crucial to our survival. Destroying even one of them would be a crippling blow to the whole Migrant Fleet... millions of quarians would starve over the following weeks, even months. They are well defended, but could easily be infiltrated and have a dormant virus planted in their systems by a quarian. All three are identical in design, so if one could be taken down the same would apply to the others. I would still need to study the systems though, as I'm not familiar with them beyond the basics."

"What kind of damage are we talking about here?" Haedian asked.

"We could do several things," Yalo said, rubbing the lower portion of his helmet. "Contaminate the food supply for one. Destroy it. Turn off environmental conditions. Even overload its power generators or engines, though that would take time and could likely be stopped with the right quarians aboard. Attacking them directly won't work, they're too heavily guarded by our most powerful warships. Whatever we do, that's our fleet's weakest point. Taking down the entire Flotilla is next to impossible, especially with a lack of resources. But we don't need to... we just need to strike at a place that affects them the most."

"Depending on what you want to do I may be able to help you with this," Haedian said. "But I'd need schematics on the Liveships and their systems. If you're thinking of contaminating the food supply to render it inedible then a list of said food varieties would help. I could probably find an efficient way of facilitating in their destruction without the need of foreign substances, merely using your own ships' design to do it instead. Less suspicious and detectable that way."

"The only way I can get them is direct access," Yalo said. "I'll have to get that for you when we head to The Migrant Fleet. Depending on where it is when that happens, we'll have a limited time to study the systems and create the virus before we arrive at our destination. Thankfully the fleet must move only as fast as its slowest ship. That should give us some time."

"I don't suppose there's a chance of taking out the ships guarding it?" Intarr suggested. Yalo shook his head.

"Only if we crippled them too, which is unlikely. They won't be as easy to get rid of. Any direct assault on the Liveships will fail." There was a pause from Yalo. "And I want at least one of them taken out."

"As in destroyed?" asked Haedian. "Actually, physically blown asunder?"

"Taken out in some way," Yalo said. "Either the food or the ship itself. We have to show them we mean business. The threat won't be enough, they actually have to experience the loss and a firm blow must be dealt. Only then will they even consider following my demands."

Yalo slammed a fist into his palm, and his strength of resolve shattered cracked at the contact. The once rigid quarian sagged a little and leant on the back of Haedian's chair for support.

_You see it now, don't you? _a familiar voice echoed in his head. _You realise what you sound like. You realise what this is doing to you... what you're becoming._

"I... I have to go," Yalo said. "I'm feeling a little off. I haven't slept much lately, so I think a rest is in order."

With the others regarding him with odd confusion, Yalo stumbled past Intarr and made his way out of the cockpit. Using his body weight to lean the cargo hold door open, he slid inside and heaved it closed again. With his arms dangling almost lifelessly at the shoulders, he trudged quickly to the nearest crate and sat upon it, clasping at his helmet with his hands and breathing deeply.

_It's not too late_, came Linna's voice, concerned but tinged with just a little hope. _You realise it. You're aware of it. You haven't come so far that you can't turn back_.

"I can't!" Yalo said, his voice strained as unseen tears welled beyond his ebony visor. "I won't commit our people to a long, slow death. I _have_ to do this. It's the only way: life through death."

_Then at least listen to her. Find an alternative. Give us the homeworld without the sacrifice._

"It can't be done," Yalo said, shaking his head.

_How do you know when you won't even try? When you won't even look for another way?_

"Because it doesn't work like that," Yalo said with frustration. "The suffering is necessary. More than that, it's the key. Sometimes it is."

_You know that's not true. You know there's never a single way to do anything. You've always believed in alternatives._

"She reminds me of you," Yalo admitted, leaning back against the wall behind him with a sigh to stare up at the ceiling. "If she hadn't been alive for years before even mother and father were, I'd swear she was you in some other form."

_Maybe you should at least believe her presence is merely more than a coincidence. You believed you had a purpose in life. Maybe she does too. Maybe both are linked. Maybe she is our people's salvation just as much as you are. Perhaps she's the one who stops it being our doom._

"All I know right now is that I need some sleep," Yalo sighed, hauling himself up and approaching one of the benches on the far wall.

* * *

The local time was 7:25pm when Lylanya ascended the small stairway leading into Telesto. The place wasn't hard to find, thanks to the large holographic orb situated above the main entrance. The striped yellow and tan coloured ball resembled a ringed planet, with two sets of letters spelling TELESTO rotating around it to represent the rings. This part of the city was vibrant and colourful overall at this time of night, but that didn't stop the dining facility from standing out. It sat at the bottom of a tall skyscraper, despite only actually incorporating the bottom two floors, with a glass elevator and directory just to the left of the entrance to transport and guide people to the other functions and services the structure otherwise provided.

While she noted that a salarian passed her coming down the staircase and she'd seen another asari talking to a human outside a building across the street, Lylanya couldn't help but notice that the place was mostly filled with humans. That was to be expected to a degree of course, with it being one of the major settlements on the human homeworld, but at the same time it still didn't tend to be as mixed and diverse as you'd find going to cities on places like Palaven, Sur'Kesh and even Thessia. Humans were relatively new to the galaxy and didn't seem to mind spreading out, but it seems either aliens were reluctant to come to the cities of Earth or humans were reluctant to have them. Perhaps even a little of both. After all, turians, salarians and asari had been dealing with each other and been allies for centuries, while humans had only been on the galactic scene for less than half of one.

The place came across as rather casual, which made sense given Talia's description of it. There was no need for a reservation and nobody to guide you to a table or anything, just a bar area as you entered to the left where a friendly employee greeted Lylanya and simply noted she could sit anywhere she liked and that somebody would be with her shortly with a menu. Lylanya politely thanked him and continued on, looking around. The place was fairly busy and popular at the moment, and while not completely bustling and crowded there were enough people in the place to make singling out an individual less than a simple process. The lights of many colours from the holograms snaking around the walls and streaming across the ceiling didn't help either, but despite this Lylanya managed to make out what she believed to be her target sitting at a booth table at the far end of the room, just past the edge of the bar. As she approached it was confirmed, though she wasn't alone and appeared to be having a drink with a human male. This made Lylanya a little concerned as to the success of her plan, but not enough to stop her. She'd adapt. She always did.

"Hello, Miss Ivanova," Lylanya smiled down at the redhead. "Good to see you here having a good time. That way I know it really _is_ a good place and you weren't just saying so."

Even with the subdued lighting and swirling colours Lylanya noticed the red come to Talia's cheeks. Her once restrained hair was now free, framing her pretty face at about shoulder length, and her business attire had been switched to an elegant black dress that, while not overly short, didn't pass the knee, showing off her elegant legs.

"Mi... Miss Alanthios," Talia said with a slight stammer, and Lylanya couldn't tell if it was surprise or mild anxiety. "Hi. Won't you join us?"

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" the man sitting across from her said, an odd smirk on his face as he raised one eyebrow at Talia. He had light brown hair and a goatee beard, with a sharp, angular nose and green eyes, similar to that of Talia's. He wore a dress shirt and trousers.

"Of course," Talia smiled. "Gregory, this is Miss Alanthios. She's a potential business client I met earlier today."

"Lylanya," the asari said, extending her hand to shake his. "We're not discussing business at the moment after all."

"Gregory Ivanov," the man replied, accepting the handshake. "Or just Greg for short. A pleasure to meet you."

"You have rather similar last names," Lylanya noted. "Coincidence?"

"It's a family name," Gregory explained. "It's slightly different if you're male or female due to our ancestry."

"Oh... so you're Talia's husband then?"

"Brother, actually," Gregory answered. "We both live in the area. Have all our lives. This was always a favourite place of ours, so we quite often bump into each other here from time to time. It was just a coincidence we happened to meet up tonight." He smiled. "Here I am talking to somebody from another world and I haven't even left this city, let alone been beyond this planet."

"Please, have a seat," Talia said, sliding over in her own. Lylanya thanked her and sat down. Greg raised an arm and called out to a nearby waitress.

"Service, please." The request was answered as a young woman holding a datapad approached and smiled at Lylanya.

"What'll you be having, honey?"

"Just a drink for the moment I think," Lylanya answered. "I suppose I should try something local. Any recommendations?"

"Talia's drinking something called a 'pina colada' at the moment," Gregory answered. "It's an old fashioned Earth beverage. You could try that."

"Very well," Lylanya smiled, and she addressed the waitress. "One pina colada, please."

The waitress noted it down with a friendly nod and left.

"I did notice that there aren't many non-humans around," Lylanya commented. "Is that normal?"

"Yeah, this place has usually just got locals in it," Gregory responded. "Not many outside the area know about it. Most off-world visitors would probably prefer a higher-class place further up town."

"Well, Talia here recommended it to me, so I thought I'd pop in," Lylanya said, throwing the woman in question a glance. "I must admit, it's very nice. I prefer to see a place that's more natural and illustrates the local culture over a place that tries to be something it's not."

"That would explain why she's here tonight then," Gregory said, throwing his sister a wink. She stopped nursing her drink and returned a glare.

"Gregory!" she chided in a firm whisper. "Stop being so juvenile."

"I didn't say anything," Gregory defended, chuckling awkwardly as he raised his hands up. "I was just paying your new friend a compliment if anything. And you. It's nice to see you socialising a little more. Usually it's all business with you."

"You _know_ I have an important job, Gregory," Talia said as if it were obvious. "I don't get much time to socialise, and when I do I can't talk about what I do. Mr. Levine's affairs don't leave the building. Beyond that all I can talk about is how my cats are doing and which of my plants is the closest to death this week." A pause as she twirled the straw around her glass. "The fern on the fridge is probably the front-runner at the moment, by the way."

"See. We're having a good conversation already," Gregory said. "You're not as boring as you think."

"I'm sure Miss Alanthios..."

"Lylanya," the asari insisted, interrupting Talia. She nodded and started again.

"I'm sure Lylanya has far more interesting things she could tell us about herself than I do."

"I'm sure she does," Gregory said, raising an eyebrow at Talia. His sister narrowed her eyes at him as he continued. "I mean, she's lived for... how long?"

"Over a hundred, I'll say that much," Lylanya evaded with a grin. "Under two."

"Well then, you must be a very wise and experienced individual," Gregory said, raising his glass to her. "I guess there would be upsides and downsides to an entire lifetime for us being the blink of an eye for you?"

"Very true," Lylanya nodded. "You see more wars and death than most others, but meet more friends and experience more amazing things. You can learn so much and do so many things when time is on your side. What human and salarian scientists would call their 'life's work' is sometimes just the beginning for us. And yet, in our youth, we sometimes squander our lives for decades. We'll waste an entire salarian lifetime just having fun."

The waitress returned with Lylanya's drink and the asari thanked her prior to Talia asking a question.

"Did you do that with your youth?"

Lylanya frowned at this slightly, postponing her lips' first contact with the straw to instead bite her lower one.

"My youth was... complicated," she answered. "Let's just say that I lacked focus and direction for the first half of my life."

"I sometimes wish I'd been able to lack focus in my youth," Talia said. Gregory rolled his eyes from across the table and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Here we go again..."

"You're still in your youth," Lylanya smiled at the young woman before taking her first taste of the drink before her.

"She's right, Talia," Gregory said. "And it's thanks to your hard work and diligence that you've got such a great career at such a young age."

"That's not the _only_ reason, Greg," she said, and then her voice grew a little bitter. "It's not even the main one."

Gregory sighed, leaning his elbows on the table and shaking his head a little.

"I'm not going into this again, sis. I think I'll take off anyway." He checked his wrist. "I've got an early start tomorrow anyway. Besides... I'm sure you'd rather talk with your new friend alone."

Gregory's prominent smirk made a return, but Lylanya heard Talia mutter a curse as he slid out from the seat and stood up.

"You don't need to go, Greg," she said, almost pleading in a voice dripping with apology. "I didn't mean to..."

She trailed off, and while a few noises left her lips now and then none of them formed a complete word and she eventually just stopped. Gregory smiled down at her and Lylanya could see the love in his eyes, despite his sister obviously frustrating him now and then.

"It's okay, I understand," he said. "I'll see you later. If not sooner, then at mom and dad's in a couple of weeks." He turned to Lylanya, extending a hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Lylanya."

Lylanya stood up and accepted the handshake. "Nice to meet you too."

With a final silent wave and smile to his sister Gregory walked off, disappearing into a small crowd of humans clustered between his sister's table and the exit. Lylanya sat back down, this time in Gregory's former spot across from Talia. The redheaded woman sighed.

"Sorry about that," she apologised to Lylanya. "We just have somewhat of a... different view on how our parents went about raising us. Simply put, he thought it was good. I'm a little more sceptical."

"A lot of people say that parents know what's best for their offspring," Lylanya said. "But that depends on the parents."

"It's just that mom and dad were these successful business types and expected us to achieve as well, since before we could even _walk_ it seemed," Talia said, twirling the straw in her drink around the rim with one finger. "When they were around our age -I mean Gregory and me- humans suddenly discovered we weren't alone in the universe. For them it must have been a very different world than it was for us. We grew up with aliens as common knowledge, so to us it was no big deal. But I think our parents suddenly saw us competing not just with our own species on earth, but with an entire galaxy. So they pushed us to be the best that we could be. While other kids were out playing and having fun, Gregory and I were doing extra studies and attending extra classes in an attempt to make us the best."

"And you're not happy with your life because of it?" Lylanya asked.

"It's not that, it's just that..." She left the sentence pending and sighed. "I just can't help but wonder if I've wasted my youth. I have a great job that pays well and almost everything I could want when it comes to material possessions. But I just sometimes feel that I haven't actually _lived_, if you know what I mean. I've spent all my time learning and studying and working, and I haven't taken the time to just live. We've been able to sail through the stars since before I was born, and I haven't even visited another world."

Talia sighed, brushing a few locks of hair that had fallen over her eyes aside. She looked up at Lylanya and found herself blushing again as soon as her emerald eyes met the asari's sapphire ones.

"Sorry, I don't even know why I'm telling you this," Talia said with an awkward smile. "We barely even know each other."

"Maybe you just needed somebody to listen to you," Lylanya conjectured. Talia let out a small snort of laughter.

"Yeah. Somebody who wasn't my judgmental brother," she added, then leant forward to place her right elbow on the table and cup her chin in the hand branching up from it. "Still... I have to confess I find you really..."

She trailed off, biting her lower lip and narrowing her eyes slightly while searching for the right word.

"I find you _easy_ to talk to," she finished, and then made a face that seemed to indicate she wasn't entirely happy with the phrasing in the end after all.

"Your brother seemed to be, how shall I put it... rather _insinuating_ as to your recommending this place to me and then also being here," Lylanya said, cocking her brow at Talia. "I don't mean to be direct or anything, but..."

Talia blushed, then pulled herself up against the backrest of her seat so fast her hair flicked up horizontally before folding itself across her cheeks back into its standard vertical position. She seemed to sink into her chair a little.

"My brother isn't exactly subtle or tactful," she admitted. "Especially when it comes to me and my tastes in things. The truth is he just wants me to be happy, and his way of showing it is to tease me whenever an opportunity arises that he feels could make me, well... _happy_, as I said. And he always thinks that I need to find somebody in my life."

She paused, leaning forward again to look at Lylanya sideways.

"You remember when I said that my studying and hard work and the like wasn't the only reason I got my job?"

Lylanya simply nodded.

"Well, there were two other reasons basically. One was -and I don't want to sound vain or conceited here- my looks. Yes, I'm pretty, I'll admit that. But I try not to make that go to my head or anything, even if I do kind of use it in my line of work to my advantage. It's no big deal, it's just a simple fact. It doesn't make me any better than anybody else or anything, but it's part of who I am and it helped me get the job. Mr. Levine wants a bit of eye candy on his main desk to deal with those who meet him, but I also have to be good at my job, otherwise I'd just be the eye candy on the bottom floor instead of also dealing with Mr. Levine's personal affairs and his most important clients and the like.

"The other reason is basically due to the fact that I'm sexually attracted to women. Or at least I'm pretty sure it is. It was never directly said, but just from a few comments from my boss I get the feeling it was a factor. Mr. Levine has an image to keep up, as you well know, and I think he wanted to make sure that even if _he_ was tempted by the old 'boss and secretary affair cliché' that the secretary wasn't. That way he gets the attractive and competent secretary without the complications associated with it. I know some women would feel it was a little unfair and even insulting, but I was fine with it. It's not like it was a requirement or he outright asked me or anything, I just mentioned it casually in the interview and afterwards he would make the odd humourous comment about my sexuality keeping him honest and the like. He's a really nice guy, and it's not like it wholly defines me or anything. It's just part of who I am. Also, having Russian ancestry like him probably helped too.

"So... when Gregory saw you here and heard that I'd invited you, he jumped to a few conclusions and decided to _tease_ me about it. You're sort of a woman after all. It's not that I'm embarrassed about my sexuality or anything, I just tend to try and take things slower and be a bit more tactful and subtle about it... unlike him. It's not the first time he's embarrassed me in front of somebody I may be interested in."

"Was he right?" Lylanya asked, her voice smooth with curious suggestion. Talia's face flushed again.

"I'll... I'll admit that I find you very attractive," Talia confessed. "Though whether I should even _consider_ getting to know you on a personal level given our business relationship is probably something I should think about. I'm not sure Mr. Levine would be too happy to find me mingling with you outside of work."

"What, would he prefer us to mingle _during_ work?" Lylanya joked with a playful wink. Talia's cheeks reddened more, but she couldn't help but chuckle a little as well.

"I'm sure he'd _love_ to see that, actually. Even if he did fire me straight afterwards. It wouldn't exactly be something that fits in with his clean image."

"I must admit I'm curious," Lylanya said, her tone turning innocently inquisitive. "You will have no doubt dealt directly with Mr. Levine's business partners and clients and so forth over the time you've been there. I have to wonder, is it really an image he creates, or is he really as honest and straightforward as he appears?"

"You know I can't tell you that," Talia smiled, her crimson locks swinging gracefully as her head shook. "Who knows where that information could end up. I don't want to find myself out of a job because I said the wrong thing."

"So he really _is_ hiding something after all," Lylanya said with mock accusation. "All kinds of dirty secrets, no doubt."

"I never said that," Talia defended, though she was still smiling. "I just said I can't tell you anything. Any and all business dealings are private, confidential information. But all in all he's a good man, and that's served him well."

"So he's not even a little dirty?"

"Would you stop it?" Talia said, giving Lylanya's left arm a playful slap as she laughed. "I already feel like I've told you too much as it is."

"You can't blame me for trying. I need every advantage I can get."

Talia chuckled again as she slurped the last of her beverage through the straw, then looked back over her shoulder towards a small dance floor located behind her at the far, back of the place.

"Do you dance?" she asked Lylanya.

"I've been known to."

"Care to?" Talia suggested, jerking her head in the direction of the open area and beams of light. Lylanya smiled.

* * *

Dr. Haedian stepped into the cockpit once again, stopping in the doorway as the hulking reptilian figure before him swung around to face him.

"Is it done?" Intarr rumbled.

"Yes," Haedian responded reluctantly. "All visual and audio systems have been disabled. It took a little while, but thankfully human electronics are primitive by salarian standards. I'd have been more prompt, but remember you're dealing with a biologist here, not a technical engineer. Ironically if you'd wanted it done faster and better you should have asked _him_ to do it."

"Very good, Doctor," Intarr grinned. "You've extended your life just a little more."

"Uh-huh," Haedian said sceptically, his brow twisting. "Forgive me for being a little incredulous here, but I doubt you have my best interests in mind."

"You're worth far more to me alive, Doctor," Intarr said in a factual manner. "That's just the truth there. The _means_ at which you earn your worth depend on you though. You can either be put on a similar path to the one you're on of gaining fame and credits for your little invention, with me getting a decent slice of the profits. Or I can turn you in to some authorities who would no doubt pay handsomely for you, your research and your little toy. Just remember that if you try and run, there's nowhere I won't find you."

"Why do you think I came back instead of just running away when you sent me to disable the security systems?" Haedian sighed.

"I've always said that you salarians are, if nothing else, smart," Intarr grinned.

"I still think you're overreacting," Haedian said. "Though given your species that's hardly surprising. Yalo simply did what he thought was best for him. You'd have probably done the same had your places been reversed."

"No, I wouldn't have," Intarr snorted. "There's no honour in betrayal. I wouldn't sell out those who had taken me in and trusted me just to get what I want. Now get out of my way! I have a quarian to deal with."

Intarr pushed Haedian roughly aside and stomped towards the rear of the ship. Haedian grunted, uprighting himself before he called out to the krogan's back.

"So are you going to try and kill Lylanya too then?"

Intarr stopped in his tracks, and his head twisted a little. Eventually he half-swung back around to regard the salarian.

"She didn't betray me," he stated. "She was just doing her job. I can't blame her for that."

Intarr stamped into the cargo hold and found his prey sleeping peacefully only a few steps away. Reaching around behind his back, Intarr retrieved his Avenger assault rifle. The weapon sent sharp echoing clicks throughout the hold as it unfolded, but Yalo still slumbered. Intarr pointed the weapon at the sleeping quarian's head and just stood there for a few seconds.

"No," he eventually said, and he raised the weapon up with his right arm. "That would be too easy and silent a death for you. You must know of your death, and the reasons for it."

Yalo found sensations and shock flooding to his senses in an instant, and it took him at least five seconds to even begin to register where he was and what was happening. His vision filled with the face of an angry krogan, framed by the edges of his own helmet. He tried to speak, only to realise that the pain he had noticed in his throat wasn't just a discomfort but extreme pressure too. He reached for his neck with both hands, only for them to find something thick and hard in the way, which he soon surmised to be one of Intarr's forearms. Intarr's face was so close that when he spoke Yalo's visor briefly steamed over on the outside before the haze dissipated from the built-in demisting system.

"You're coming with me," Intarr growled. "We've got some things to discuss."

Yalo didn't like that, but couldn't really respond as he felt himself being hoisted up and dragged away. Krogan had two definitions of the word 'discuss' and which was which was defined purely by tone. One form of 'discuss' was to have a conversation about things, which was the more commonly used one by most other species in Citadel Space, but was likely the rarer variant amongst the krogan. The other one was basically a way of saying that exchanges of violence and weapons fire were likely going to take place. Judging from the tone it was pretty clear that Intarr meant the latter definition.

Yalo could feel his heels dragging on the ground, and his vision was filled with Intarr's shoulder and the cargo hold gradually appearing to get smaller and smaller. Soon he recognised he was in the main entrance and decontamination chamber of _Karina_. Here he stopped, and he felt the backs of his feet leave the ground, then soon after that there was nothing touching him at all any more. All he could sense was momentum and a sinking feeling of both fear and sickness in the centre of his stomach. Time seemed to slow and a lot of thoughts raced through his mind before gravity finished its work. He saw Intarr standing on the precipice of _Karina's_ docking port, just as he felt the hard impact he made with the ground send a deep shuddering pain into his shoulders, back and upper arms. Intarr was holding his assault rifle in his hands and bringing them to bear on him. Yalo lay there, frozen with fear, but luckily the krogan didn't shoot. At least not right away.

"I suppose you're wondering why I hauled you out here by the throat, threw you on the ground and have now got a gun pointed straight at you?"

Yalo was still trying to gain all his senses properly again, with the exception of the senses of pain that he was instead trying to block out. He attempted to focus his thoughts on the situation at hand, and it took him a few moments to do that and then actually answer.

"I'm guessing it's not because you want a larger cut," he said bitterly. Intarr grinned.

"That depends how many I can put in you in the next few moments," he retorted. "Being a quarian though, I doubt you'd need too many. I'm not a stranger to betrayal, Yalo. I've been a mercenary for decades and had to deal with all sorts. But I thought you were different. I trusted you because I thought we were the same. You were trying to save your people, and I was trying to save mine. And yet you still sold us out."

"Don't give me these lies of krogan honour and nobility," Yalo scoffed. "If it meant curing the genophage you'd betray everybody you knew. It's easy to say you _won't_ do something when the situation hasn't even come up."

"That's not true," Intarr growled. "I wouldn't turn my back on those who have helped me just to further my own agenda."

"Everybody does what they need to do to achieve their goals," Yalo said. "That's the way the universe works."

"For you maybe. Some of us have principles. Some of us have places we won't go and boundaries we won't cross. No matter the temptation. And I don't know what's worse: the fact you betrayed me in the first place, or the fact you continued to drag me along and use me knowing the fact."

"I never wanted you to come with me at all," Yalo admitted. "I wanted you to leave and find your own path. You were the one that felt some kind of need to follow me. Like you had some kind of debt to pay."

"And yet you still accepted my offer. But I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise. After all, you're also betraying your own kind."

"That's not true! I'm _helping_ them!"

"Tell me, Yalo... would you sacrifice your entire species to get what you want? Surely you have loved ones, otherwise you wouldn't even _care_ about your people. Would you betray, use and give them up to attain your goals?"

"I... I never said I didn't feel _guilty_ about what I did to you," Yalo said, followed by a sigh. "I was just given an opportunity and I took it. I never expected things to go so wrong for Gonamida, you and the others. It was just a load of credits to let Lylanya take Haedian away."

"Uh-huh. And when is it going to be _their_ turn to be betrayed by you?" Intarr asked. "Or have you already done it and they simply haven't found out?"

A silence fell between them for a while, and then Yalo's tone grew frustrated.

"What do you want from me, Intarr? An apology? Do you want me to say that I'm sorry for what I did to you? That I regret it? Well... I _can't_. Yes... I feel guilty about it. I know I've done a morally reprehensible act. I know I've betrayed you, used you and hurt you. And I _am_ sorry for that, and didn't mean to hurt you and didn't mean anything personal by it."

Yalo got to his feet, and Intarr's Avenger followed him, but did not pointed at his would-be executioner.

"But I _don't_ regret it, because of where it's got me. If I hadn't done what I did, I'd have likely still been stuck with you and the others on that dusty rock, trying in vain to cure something that probably never will be cured. That decision may have been wrong morally, but it was the _right_ decision to make for me and the quarian race. And I'd do it again, even in hindsight. I've come further and faster than I'd thought possible, and all because of that choice. So I'm sorry how it affected you, but I'm _not_ sorry that I made it. And if that means you're going to _kill_ me, then I guess you might as well just go ahead and kill me."

Yalo opened his arms out wide to his sides in submission, and Intarr sighed deeply, his weapon lowering slightly and his head joining it. After about two seconds he faced Yalo again and the gun trained back on the quarian.

"Okay then," Intarr said a little too casually for Yalo's liking.

"Bosh'tet!" Yalo exclaimed, as his legs instinctively began to run.


	17. Chapter 17

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 17**

Yalo had already made two steps before the muzzle of Intarr's assault rifle flashed for the first time, sending the initial grains of super-accelerated metal in the quarian's direction. But that didn't change the fact that there was nothing between him and the krogan but clear, unobstructed space. While talking with the krogan prior to this, Yalo had managed to at least take in some of his surroundings in the small docking bay, which was why he had immediately chosen to run to his left towards a stack of crates piled in the vicinity. He didn't know why they were there, but he was happy they were. A few moments later he had wished they had been just that little bit closer though.

Intarr's opening volley was on target, but Yalo's kinetic barriers ensured that most of the shots merely flared harmlessly into oblivion about an inch away from his body. Despite the pile of crates being a relatively short distance away, Yalo's shields were depleted before he could quite make it to them. He was only one stride out from being in complete cover when they failed, resulting in three shots piercing his suit, his skin and beyond. Yalo yelped before stumbling out of Intarr's line of sight as a sharp pain burned in his upper right arm and a slightly lesser stinging sensation flared in the back of his right shoulder.

Yalo huddled against the crates, as if the inanimate objects were actually comforting him. Just beyond the sound of his own quick and heavy breathing he could make out the laughter of a krogan. Yalo knew there wasn't much time to act, but at the same time there were pressing matters that needed attending to straight away. Beyond his injuries his suit was punctured for one, which in the case of a quarian was just as bad. He didn't have time to check specifics so decided to seal off the whole of his right arm and shoulder from the rest of his suit, hoping that it would be enough to curb the inevitable contamination from spreading any further. He felt it tightening noticeably, realising that -along with the fact it had been shot- it would restrict the use of the arm significantly, and that he would probably have to wield his pistol in his left one now instead.

Before retrieving his gun from his hip, Yalo quickly reached awkwardly into one of his pouches to produce a small needled vial of antibiotics, jabbing himself just above the largest wound on his right arm. If he'd had more time he would have torn a piece of hanging cloth from his suit and used it to bandage the would and stem the bleeding somewhat, but that was a luxury he couldn't afford. Dying from loss of blood or infection was unlikely when his attacker was in a position to take him out with more conventional means. Taking a deep breath and with his Stinger grasped firmly in his left hand, Yalo popped his head and arm over the top of the crates and fired at his target.

Three blue stars blazed in front of Intarr as Yalo made three quick shots, the krogan's shields making sure none got through. Yalo was forced to duck back down after this as the krogan's weapon fixed on his location; the upper crates and the wall beyond and above them being pelted sharply with deadly metal rain. He heard the krogan laugh again.

"You can't hide behind there forever, quarian!" a deep voice bellowed out. "Either you'll have to come out, or I'll come back there and get you."

"Can't we work something out?" Yalo called back over the crates. "How about we wait and I'll let you kill me after all of this is done?"

"And let you succeed?" Intarr called back. "That would defeat the purpose. Besides, from the sounds of things a quick death for you after betraying your own people would be a blessing. You don't _get_ to succeed. You fail and die, here and now."

Yalo heard a swiftly approaching whirring sound, silenced by a firm click and faint beeping just behind his head. Realising what it was he dove forwards, just as the grenade exploded and either destroyed or scattered all but the bottom rows of crates. One large chunk of a former container struck Yalo's back, making him yelp, but he was soon thankful that it was the worst part of the experience when a still intact one slammed onto the ground just a few inches from his head. As remnants of smoking ceramic, plastic and chunks of some kind of large fruit began to lay still, Yalo swiftly rolled back into what remained of the cover just before the area he was once in was peppered by more bullets. He lay on his back now, sitting up or even crouching no longer an option thanks to his remaining protection being significantly shorter than it once was.

_If he throws another one, I'll be slaughtered_, Yalo thought. _Either by the blast itself or shortly afterwards by his gunfire when I'm out in the open._

"Maybe I should just leave you there," Intarr called out. "Keep you pinned behind what's left until you catch a cold and die from it."

Yalo sneered from within his helmet, then looked down at his injured arm. Dark liquid was still gradually leaking out of it and forming a small pool on the ground beneath. There was a slight stinging sensation, but beyond that the whole thing mostly felt numb and tingly now. Yalo placed his gun on his stomach so he could access his omni-tool. He wished he had one of the combat drones he knew some models had, if only to distract the krogan briefly. Most of the abilities it had related to helping with tech-based and mechanical issues, which rarely helped in combat. He could use it to affect other weapons though. Popping up briefly out of cover by simply sitting up, Yalo flashed his orange hand towards Intarr. The krogan's weapon beeped loudly, but he just laughed.

"I know your tricks, Yalo!" he sneered. "You can't expect me to fall for them when you tell me what they are."

Yalo ducked back down quickly, just as Intarr pelted the sides of his cover to prove his point. Yalo cursed to himself at the idea that it would have even worked.

_You've been around Haedian too long,_ his inner self chided. _You've started to buy into his exaggerated opinions on krogan stupidity._

"Maybe I should just finish this then," the Intarr said loudly, making sure Yalo could hear him. "As the humans say, 'fire in the hole!'"

Yalo peeked up over the top of his cover, just enough to get a look at Intarr whipping out another grenade and preparing to throw it. As he did, Yalo reached over with his injured arm to grasp hold of a piece of crate debris.

_This is a long shot_, he thought. _But I have to do something_.

Yalo watched the krogan carefully, and as soon as Intarr's arm came forward with the grenade Yalo flicked the broken chunk of detritus over the cover towards where he hoped the grenade was going to be thrown. As soon as the object had left his hand, Yalo immediately rolled forward onto his feet again, trying to ignore the searing pain in his arm made worse from the throw. The two airborne objects met about halfway between him and Intarr, and despite the speed of the small explosive canister, the mass and inertia of the chunk of wreckage won the battle in deciding which way they'd go from there. The grenade stuck, and Intarr's eyes widened as he noticed the two combined objects returning towards him. Both hit the ground a good several metres away from Intarr where they exploded loudly in a cloud of dust and smoke; too far away to hurt the krogan, but enough to shake him, make him flinch and take him off guard. It was also enough for him to ignore Yalo for a brief moment, which allowed the quarian to get to another piece of cover, this time a parked truck to Intarr's left.

Intarr coughed, waving away the smoke with one arm, and growling as he looked around for his prey. Behind the truck it lay, letting out a barely audible gasp as he came across newfound treasure: a few packets of medi-gel lay strewn on the ground near the remnants of another crate, no doubt a victim from Intarr's first grenade. While he had the time he quickly grabbed half a dozen of them, opening one immediately to apply it to his wound and sighing with relief as the clotting agents almost immediately took action.

_You can't just lie here, Yalo! You've got to take him down somehow. It's you or him now._

Yalo couldn't argue with his own thoughts, but nor could he realistically stand up against a battle-veteran krogan. At least not in a straight-up fight. He needed some way to take Intarr out of the equation with as little back-and-forth gunplay as possible. He had been lucky with his earlier trick, but luck would only get you so far. Thinking perhaps he could use something around him to his advantage, Yalo looked around the docking bay. Beyond more crates and another couple of small vehicles, there wasn't much else, at least not that he could see from where he was. Carefully and quietly he crawled from the back end of the truck towards the front, hoping to sneak a peek around the corner to see if there was anything behind _Karina_ he could use. He noticed a few more crates and a loading vehicle, but that was about it. Yalo pondered somehow using the vehicle, but he still had to get to it. On top of that, it didn't have a cab, so if he were to use it he'd be vulnerable to weapons fire.

_Wait a minute, how is he getting away with this?_ the quarian suddenly wondered. _This is a docking bay that's part of a major intergalactic space port. Security should know about this and send somebody within moments._

But security was nowhere to be seen. Granted it was late now, and the walls were thick and probably insulated to dampen sound given how loud a ship's engines could be, as well as the noise that loading and transport vehicles would make. The nearest guards from what Yalo could gather were at the entrance of the entire docking section, so it wasn't as if they were posted right outside. But there were still cameras and devices that should pick up the gunfire and explosions. Perhaps if he was lucky, security would come and deal with Intarr for him.

_Unless he somehow disabled them_.

No, he couldn't have. He's a krogan mercenary, not a technician.

_Haedian. He could have done it._

No wonder he was acting nervous when Yalo had got back. He would have been the means to Intarr finding out in the first place after all, though Yalo could hardly fault the salarian for talking if Intarr had decided to threaten him. He couldn't really blame Haedian for simply telling the truth about his own betrayal of the krogan. But Yalo had to stop his mind from putting the pieces together and focus on Intarr right now. He peered back around the corner of the truck, a little further this time to see if he could spot the krogan. He couldn't.

_Great! Now you've lost him,_ he chastised himself.

He inched back into cover, only to gasp as he turned his head back around to see the top of Intarr's thick, armour-plated forehead at the rear of the vehicle, getting closer. Before the krogan could made it to his position, Yalo quickly snuck around the very front of the truck, hopefully out of sight. He heard Intarr making a low growl of interest as he stooped to observe Yalo's spilt blood trail. Slowly and quietly getting to his feet again, Yalo made a quick dash for a small stack of crates about ten metres away from the front of the truck. Intarr heard the noise, stomping forward to unleash a barrage of fire at Yalo. With his shields recharged, Yalo's kinetic barriers manage to take most of them again, and he dove over the crates into cover just in time.

"You think a small pile of crates are going to stop me, Yalo!" Intarr yelled.

There was a thudding sound and sensation Yalo could feel through the ground, with a regular pattern and getting louder and louder. Yalo popped his head over the top of his new barrier, gasping as he realised Intarr was charging towards him like an angry bull. Yalo raised his pistol and fired at the incoming krogan, who didn't even seem to care about using his own weapon any more. Yalo soon realised he didn't need it, as Intarr closed the distance far quicker than he had given him credit for, and before Yalo could fire enough times to even get one metal sliver part his shields. Yalo stopped shooting and turned to run, but it was too late, as Intarr impacted head-on with the crates.

He didn't know if the containers had been empty or not, but given how easily Intarr had sent them and him flying, it didn't seem to make much of a difference. A dull pain slammed into the centre of his back, and Yalo found himself being thrown forward into the air. His pistol slipped from his grasp just as he met his own shadow, his elbows and chest hitting the hard surface beneath that suddenly seemed a lot less smooth that it appeared. The pain the landing caused was quickly overpowered by one of the containers coming down upon his right leg, causing him to scream out in agony. He took a few moments to soak up the pain, then attempted to pick himself back up, finding it initially a struggle before it became all too easy.

A firm pressure latched onto his upper left arm, and he felt himself being raised up. He was flipped around just as his feet began to drag and there was a horrible pain in his other arm as the same pressure was applied there, right where his wounds were. Soon his visor was filled with Intarr's face; a cruel smirk plastered across his saurian lips.

"Now I've got you," Intarr said with a low, menacing satisfaction. "There's nowhere to run for you now. You've lost your weapon. And your little tricks won't work on me. Any last words?"

"I don't suppose saying 'sorry' again would help me at this point?" Yalo asked weakly.

Intarr shook his head.

"Okay. Then may your children die in the womb of their mother," Yalo said bitterly. "And may your legacy die with them."

Intarr's eyes narrowed and he growled. He craned his head back briefly, then brought it forward swiftly to deliver a nasty headbutt straight to Yalo's helmet, still holding him firmly in his grasp all the while. For a few seconds Yalo's world was a painful blur, and then he heard Intarr laughing again. When his vision cleared, he could see slight cracks before him, with Intarr's laughing face beyond.

"Looks like I was a bit rough there and let in a little air," the krogan teased. "Maybe I won't kill you now after all."

Yalo felt the pressure on his arms release, and he tumbled to the ground, landing on his back. He looked up at Intarr through the cracks as his attacker continued to chuckle down at him.

"I think I'll just let you take a breath of fresh air for once," the krogan teased. "So you can slowly die in that suit of yours in helplessness, just like an unborn krogan infant. Maybe then you'll understand, if only for that brief moment before you die. You could have helped stop that with me, but now we're a drying race again. You of all people should have understood."

"I did understand," Yalo wheezed. "I simply chose my own people over yours."

"Well... I guess now we'll _both_ fail," Intarr said, almost sombrely. "A shame really."

"So you'd doom my own people just to spite me?" Yalo asked, propping himself up against the surface behind him. "If you want to punish me, that's fine. But don't punish the quarian race and condemn them to their fate because of my actions against you."

"Nice try," the krogan smiled. "But I'm not directly harming them. I'm just leaving them as they are, for better or worse. I'm no more to blame than anybody else in the galaxy doing _nothing_ to..."

Intarr trailed off as he heard an odd humming sound coming from behind him, which began to gradually get louder and louder. The ground began to shake slightly as the humming became more of a rhythmic whirring, and the krogan turned around and gasped as he realised what was happening.

"What are you doing?" he called out towards _Karina_ as the noise got louder. "What are you touching in there?"

While Intarr was facing away, Yalo made his move. He made a clumsy leap towards the loading vehicle that lay only a couple of metres away from him and scrambled up into it to get to the main controls. He turned on the object just as Intarr turned back around with a look of surprise. The krogan began to raise his gun towards Yalo, but then Yalo quickly accelerated, driving the vehicle straight into Intarr and knocking him down with the large vice-like jaws on its front. It tried to drive over Intarr, but instead got caught up on him, banking up into the air atop the krogan. That was all Yalo needed though, and he immediately leapt from the vehicle to the ground again.

_Karina's _modest, single-engine thruster glowed a brilliant yellow and white, and from its very centre a ball formed for a few seconds, then burst forth. A jet of superheated flame silenced the still-running vehicle and the initial screams of the krogan beneath it. _Karina_ herself creaked and lurched ahead a few feet, then began to slowly slide and grind forwards, until the thruster cut out again and the flame extinguished, and then she was still again. As the engine whined down to silence, Yalo propped himself up on his left elbow and looked back at where he'd jumped from to see what was left. What appeared to be the rear of a vehicle at one end gradually morphed into a melted pile of slag at the other. The melted mass of metal was partially fused and partially sitting upon some smoking, charred remains that didn't resemble much beyond a smoldering heap of crispy, undefined organic matter.

Yalo sighed with relief, then simply let himself collapse to the ground. As his head slumped onto the hard surface beneath, shards of hardened glass fell away from his visor to join the rest of him on the floor.

* * *

It had just passed 11:00pm at Telesto when Lylanya and Talia finished their second dance of the evening and made their way back to their table and the half-finished drinks that sat there. Both of them were laughing and smiling, their eyes locked onto each others' like magnets almost the entire time. Talia curbed her chuckles by taking the straw to her lips and refreshing her throat with the cooling mixture of alcohol, coconut cream and pineapple juice. Lylanya picked up her own beverage, content to merely swirl it in one hand for the moment, causing the ice to twirl and tinkle against itself and the glass like a liquid wind chime.

"I have to say, I've never quite danced like _that_ before," Lylanya noted with a playful grin. "I think I almost tore my dress a couple of times. Asari dancing is usually a little less..."

"Fast-paced?" Talia finished for the asari. Lylanya smiled.

"I was going to say 'jerky and sudden' actually, but that works too."

"It's your own fault for coming here tonight," Talia chuckled. "They _always_ have the South American dancing on Wednesday nights. The salsa and the tango aren't exactly my specialty either, I must admit. I think you did well considering it was your first go at it."

"Well, I haven't _always_ been a boring business woman," Lylanya said in her defence. "In my youth I was a little more active. It helped me to become fit and flexible."

"I'll bet," Talia said with a raised eyebrow and a voice that could melt butter. Lylanya smiled back and winked.

_You're pretty much mine_, the asari thought to herself. _At this rate getting even your deepest secrets will be easier than breathing_.

"So, how long have you actually been at Cirrostratus?" Lylanya asked, casually twirling the mini umbrella that had once adorned her drink between her thumb and forefinger.

"Just over three years," Talia answered. "I went there straight after college. Of course it helped that the company was just starting up and that I was top of my class that year when I graduated. Mr. Levine was already well-known for his other companies, and the offices were opening up nearby my home, so it all kind of worked out. It sort of just fell into my lap in a way. Not quite as easily as it did for my brother, but he kind of cheated."

"How so?" Lylanya asked, glad to see Talia was more willing to talk about her work now. _Probably the drinks loosening her up_, she thought.

"Well, he just instantly got a job at one of dad's companies straight away. I could have too I guess, but I didn't want to. I wanted to actually _earn_ my way into a place, rather than just get the job because I was 'daddy's little girl' or something like that. Also, dad's reasonably successful and all, but he's no Ivan Levine. I also like what Mr. Levine's doing with his companies too... bettering humanity and trying to get us out there more."

"No offense, but some of the rest of us think that humanity is getting out there a little too much, too fast," Lylanya said.

"The turians you mean?" Talia asked.

"Not just the turians," the asari admitted. "The other species see it too. Don't get me wrong... you're generally well-liked amongst the Council races from what I can gather, despite a little animosity from the turians over your little scuffle at the start of it all. Some of us just see your species as a little pushy and overambitious, that's all."

"We have to be," Talia defended. "We're so far behind as it is and we need to catch up fast before we get left back entirely. And it's our ambitiousness that makes us strong. We've proven that. Look at what the Alliance fleet did for you and the other races during the attack on The Citadel for instance. Look at the late Commander Shepard. Both prime examples of our strength and determination. And Mr. Levine is an example of that too, even if it's in a more subtle way."

"He's not one of these pro-human, anti-alien bigots I hope?" Lylanya asked, suddenly becoming sceptical.

"No, not at all," Talia said earnestly. "He's nothing like like that. Making humanity strong doesn't automatically mean making other species weak. I mean... does the asari being strong make the turians or salarians weak?"

"No, but we all have our roles," Lylanya said. "We acknowledge where our weaknesses are and our strengths are and rely on and support each other so that the weaknesses one may have are filled by the strengths of another. With The Council the turians are the warriors, the salarians the scientists and we -the asari- are the diplomats. Where do the humans fit in here when they're trying to be all of these things and more?"

"I guess we'll find out when things start to settle down, now that we're becoming a major part of it all," Talia said. "Maybe it's good to have a more balanced group in there. I mean... if you suddenly had a race that leaned too far one way, it would make The Council unbalanced. Like, if you had another race like the salarians in there you'd have a council that's half scientists, but only a quarter military and a quarter diplomatic."

"You sure another reason you didn't get hired was because of your views on humanity and their place in the galaxy?" Lylanya queried half-jokingly.

"It probably helped too," Talia smiled. "Mr. Levine is somebody who listens and respects my opinions, and the same goes for the others at Cirrostratus from what I've seen. He's sometimes even called me in or taken me aside after a board meeting or negotiation or business deal and asked for my two cents on things."

"Two cents?" Lylanya asked.

"Sorry, it's an old human idiom. I mean that he's asked for my take on things and what I thought about it."

"So... you've often sat in on the meetings themselves then?" Lylanya asked with genuine curiosity. "You're not always just stuck sitting at your desk outside?"

"Mr. Levine sometimes likes me there in a more subtle manner, depending on what it's all about and who's involved," Talia explained. "I won't technically be part of the meetings, but I'll be there. I'll bring refreshments, make sure the room is secure, bring Mr. Levine appropriate documents or items he needs, et cetera. But all the while I'll be listening and sometimes watching." She smiled. "Sometimes he'd even intentionally leave the intercom on after calling me so I could still hear the conversation from my desk outside. Still, there are some meetings even _I_ don't get to observe beyond what's absolutely necessary."

"Such as?" Lylanya probed. Talia smirked.

"I may be a tad drunk, but I'm not _that_ far gone," she teased. "I've probably already told you too much as it is considering you're a potential client and all. I keep forgetting about that factor."

"True. But then, I'm also helping to represent somebody else. A business partner. And he doesn't know any of this stuff."

"You mean he doesn't know _yet_," Talia said knowingly. "In either case, it's only fair considering I've let some inside info slip out that you do the same."

"Such as?"

"Such as who you're working for, or with. You might as well tell me, since I'm going to find out anyway soon enough."

"I'm working with a quarian, believe it or not," Lylanya divulged. "His name is Yalo. Yalo'Pala nar Lerta."

"I didn't know there were many quarian businessmen."

"There aren't, from what I can tell. They usually keep to themselves on their Flotilla. But he's got some rather... ambitious plans. And he wants your boss to help with them."

"Let me guess, you'll only tell Mr. Levine any more," Talia guessed.

"I'd rather not discuss it in public, in either case. But I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, given what you've told me. I'll just say that if things work out, we'll be willing to give Cirrostratus Industries some rare, experimental technology that could help your species out a lot."

"What do they look like under those suits?" Talia asked, suddenly derailing the conversation.

"I don't actually know myself," Lylanya answered. "I haven't dealt with them much before beyond my current business relationship, and I'm too young to have been around before they were bound to them."

"A lot of humans seem to blame them for the Geth attacks on human colonies," Talia noted. "That seems a bit unfair to me. It's not like the quarians were controlling them or anything. To me it seems a bit like getting shot by somebody and blaming the person who made the gun rather than the one that shot you with it."

"I have to admit, I do think they're rather mistreated," Lylanya admitted. "Sure they've made mistakes in the past, but who hasn't? It's hardly fair to keep punishing them after three-hundred years for it."

"Is that why you're helping this Yalo? Because you sympathise with him and his people?"

Lylanya's gaze wandered off, growing distant. For a moment her facade melted away.

"I don't know," she admitted, her voice empty and uncertain, yet seeming to search for something. "I want to help. I want to. It's just..."

Her voice drifted away and vanished in an invisible mist. As thought and reality seemed to separate, the slight movement of Talia twisting her head to one side brought Lylanya back to the latter. Her shield returned with a few blinks and a smile, and secretly she cursed herself for letting it fade.

_You used to have full control_, her own thoughts chided. _Don't let yourself falter with stray thoughts_.

"Are you all right?" Talia asked, and the woman seemed veritably concerned.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something. It's no big deal."

"You and this Yalo guy aren't... y'know..."

"Oh, no!" Lylanya defended instantly. "Nothing like that. It's just a business relationship. Nothing more."

"Good," Talia smiled. "Gregory wouldn't like that, after all."

"And what about _you_, Miss Ivanova?" Lylanya said, leaning forward with a suggestive smile and eyes to match.

"I might have been a little disappointed myself," the redhead admitted coyly. "Despite my reservations that one shouldn't mix business with pleasure, I've had a great time." She paused. "And speaking of time..."

Talia pressed her right index finger against the side of a silver bracelet around her right wrist, producing a small green hologram just above it that read 11:22pm. She gasped a little and the floating light faded away.

"It's late and I'd better get home. I've got work in the morning tomorrow."

She gathered up a small black handbag that was sitting on the seat behind her, then stood up and slung it over her shoulder. Lylanya got to her feet as well.

"Let me get the drinks," the asari offered. "It's the least I can do."

"Too late," Talia smiled. "They're already on my tab here."

"Can I walk you home or anything?" Lylanya offered. "You said you didn't live far away, yes?"

"Thanks. That'd be nice," Talia said.

The two left the establishment, Talia giving the main barman a farewell greeting as they passed. As they made their way down the steps outside, Talia stumbled a little and Lylanya caught her, helping her find her feet again.

"Thanks," Talia said, reddening from embarrassment. "Too many drinks I think. Hopefully not so many that my head will pound tomorrow."

Talia wasn't kidding when she said she didn't live far away, as they only walked two blocks before she stopped at the base of a reasonably-sized building, not much smaller than the one Telesto occupied. She turned to Lylanya and smiled with a nod.

"Well, here I am. Thanks again, I had a great time. It's a shame that you probably won't be staying on Earth that long, otherwise I'd suggest we get together again."

"How about tomorrow then?" Lylanya proposed.

"Sure, I'd like that," Talia said, her grin growing. "Same time and place?"

"Actually... I was thinking a little earlier," Lylanya said, closing the distance between them. "Such as, in the morning."

"You want to meet up before I go to work?" Talia asked. "You mean, for breakfast?"

"Breakfast would be nice," Lylanya said, getting even closer. "Though rather than meeting up, I was thinking instead I'd simply, well... never leave in the first place."

Talia felt her cheeks flush, the asari's face only a few inches away from her own. She gulped.

"You mean... You mean you want to... You want us to..." the human woman stammered

"Have you ever been with an asari before, Miss Ivanova?" Lylanya purred. "Have you ever melded with one of my kind?"

Talia just shook her head, her eyes wide and her voice caught in the back of her throat. Lylanya gave her a smile that sent a shiver down her spine.

"It's well known that it transcends any purely physical form of intimacy," she said, reaching up to stroke Talia's right cheek. The human woman seemed to melt into her palm, her eyes drifting closed as if the mere contact had made her fall into a deep sleep. "Feelings and emotions mix and blend together in a swirl of sensations that cannot be explained. The past experiences of both can break the barriers of time and become reborn in a way so vivid no mere memory can compare. Love, intimacy, thought and understanding become as one, surpassing their own limitations and definitions to become something indescribable."

"I... I don't know," Talia responded, as if half in a dream. Her eyes opened again, filled with uncertainty but also lined with traces of desire. "I'm not usually... That is to say, I don't..." She swallowed, and started again. "Like I said earlier, I don't like to rush into things. I normally take things slow and carefully, and... and I'm not even sure if I should be _considering_ this, with you being a client of-"

She was cut off, her next word becoming a muffled yelp as Lylanya's violet lips made contact with her own rose-tinted ones. The noise of surprise and protest soon calmed into a pleasant sigh, and while soft blue arms wrapped around her the only sensation she noticed was the soft caresses that tickled and glided in and around her mouth. Everything beyond the kiss seemed lost in a world of insignificance for a few moments, before it slowly ended and she found herself staring back at Lylanya with her mouth hanging open as if the previous act had paralysed it.

"I thought you said that you felt you'd wasted your youth, Talia," Lylanya said softly. "You said that you felt you hadn't lived. That you'd spent too much time working, and studying and striving for perfection."

She stroked Talia's cheek again, brushing some locks of crimson hair aside. Lylanya's next words were a whisper carried on a gentle breeze

"Just this once, Talia Ivanova, let me let you _live_. Live in a way that will make up for all that time you felt you wasted. Let me fill that gap in your life, and show you the stars through my eyes."

There was a moment of hesitation, and eventually Talia reached up to stroke Lylanya's own cheek now. As the asari watched the young human's eyes brim with tears, she noticed how they seemed to literally wash the doubt away as well. With the doubt went subtlety and restraint, a fire grew in the eyes of the normally reserved woman, and this time it was her who instigated the next kiss.

* * *

The first sense that came back to Yalo was sight, as hazy darkness was breached by a bright blue light. Unclear shapes greeted him that were familiar, yet distant somehow. Part of him knew he'd seem them before, but as he wrestled to recall why and how, something battled for urgent control of his mind to tell him to be worried and not trust his own eyes. One of the shapes seemed to get larger, just to his right. As familiar noises came from it he realised that it had instead got closer, and that those noises were words being spoken.

"Finally... you're awake."

_You know that voice,_ Yalo's thoughts told him. _But you can't escape the Geth. They're all around you. Is that voice one of them?_

Yalo twitched, making Dr. Haedian take a step back, his palms forward in a defensive stance.

"What do you want?" Yalo said, his voice full of fear, but also demanding. "Have you come to take our world again? _Why_ would you need our new home? What have we done to you?"

Yalo tried to scuttle backwards on the bench, but felt a pain in his right arm as soon as he put weight on it. He was lying on the bench-seat behind the copilot's chair located in _Karina's_ cockpit. Haedian stood over him, having been sitting at the console in the main seat until he heard Yalo stir. On the bench opposite Yalo on the right side of the compartment was an open kit of medical supplies and several datapads, still activated.

"You have to calm down," Haedian said firmly, his forehead melting downward into a frown. "You're aboard Lylanya's ship on Earth, and I'm Doctor Haedian, the salarian genius."

He paused to let that last point sink in, his palm pressed to his chest briefly in self-pride.

"You need to rest up and stay still, Yalo," the salarian continued. "You've caught a virus of some kind from your fight with Intarr. Nothing too serious from what I can gather, but you are rather delirious from fever."

"But...bu-but the Geth are here," Yalo said, his voice wavering up and down. "They've come for our new home. They... they've come for New Rannoch!"

"There are no Geth here, quarian!" Haedian chided, and then he suddenly blinked, his right hand moving to his chin and mouth in thought. "Or at least there _shouldn't_ be. Statistical law of averages suggests that likelihood of a Geth being on Earth is low. Still... could happen _eventually_. In fact, law determines that it is almost inevitable. That said, law of averages is generally considered by those of any merit to be a dubious mathematical principle at best. Discrete probability distribution probably a better-"

Haedian cut himself off as he realised he was sidetracking himself, then shook his head.

"There is a very _low_ chance that there are Geth here," he told the quarian. "Besides, this is Earth and not New Rannoch."

"Earth?" Yalo queried. Random thoughts twirled in his head, cobbling together in unnatural ways to form meaningless conclusions. "The humans want my world! My legacy to my people!"

"No, you need to lie _still_ and stop thinking nonsense!" Haedian said "The fever is affecting your mind and you're cobbling together absurdity and believing it." A pause. "Don't!"

"Fe... fever?"

"Yes," Haedian said, frustratingly relieved that he finally got through, if only slightly. "You were exposed to something during your fight with the krogan, like I said. Luckily _I_ stepped in to intervene and take care of the brute by firing up the ship's sublight thruster and cooking him to a krogan crisp. Most satisfactory!"

A pause, along with a dismissive wave of a hand followed.

"Your little intervention with the loading vehicle _may_ have helped slightly to stop him from getting out of the way... it's hard to say."

"Exposed? Fight? Thruster?"

"Yes, a nasty little bug got into you at some point," Haedian said. "Actually something fairly harmless to the natives, and to pretty much everybody else. Something humans breathe every day, but your body sure didn't like it despite this. You were lucky that your visor was double the thickness of a standard one or it could have been a lot worse. The outer one was broken when I found you, but after I removed the remaining pieces your secondary one was thankfully intact."

He picked up a piece of dark, broken glass from a small metal pan nearby and waved it in front of Yalo briefly. From beyond the quarian's undamaged one two blurry light ovals faded away and back a couple of times. Haedian threw the shard back into the pan and grabbed a datapad next.

"You're also lucky you have a brilliant salarian biologist aboard who has not _only_ studied quarians a little, but has a whole bunch of research on your species at hand as well. I was worried for a moment I wouldn't be able to treat you without exposing you to more of the environment and removing parts of your suit, but I think I did amazingly well, even for me. You're swimming with antibiotics and other drugs to try and fix you as fast as possible, but you'll still need to rest. You'll still probably be a bit phlegmy, but that should pass in a few days... a weak at the most. I advise you avoid sneezing if possible -I'd hate to think what doing so in that helmet would mean.

"You may notice a stiffness in your right leg too, by the way. I think it was broken, but I managed to set it and heal it as best I could with some medi-gel, and then I isolated and increased the pressure in that area to give it some more support. As long as you don't _fidget_ around too much and fall of that bench, you should be fine. I must admit, those suits of yours are amazing. Not quite enough to completely _save_ you in a situation like the one you were just in, but... impressive nonetheless."

Yalo groaned, letting himself go limp on the bench. Part of his mind told him what he was being told was true, while another part tried to tell him that it was lies, and yet another somehow suggesting both were true. His thoughts bobbed up and down from one to the next, as if on a perpetually swelling ocean. Brief moments of clarity would soon be drowned in confusion and contradicting moments of equal clarity, where the real truth was nothing more than a whisper in the distance that was never quite clear. One thing Yalo did know was that he was tired and sore, and for the moment the truth didn't seem to matter, and all he really wanted to do was ignore the pain as best he could and drift off to sleep. Ignoring the pain was easier than ignoring his feverish mind, but after a few more minutes of restless mumbling and lying still, he managed to doze off.

* * *

Lylanya awoke at the feeling of warmth and brightness upon her face, carefully opening her eyes only to squint again at the flaring spot of brightness from beyond the main window. Rolling over onto her side she saw the pale holographic display at the bedside reading 6.05am. Sighing, she rolled back into her back, then slowly got to her feet and quietly walked over to the window.

Stretching as she approached the glass barrier, Lylanya let out a utterance of dulcet satisfaction as the warm morning rays touched her bare skin. She stood there for a while just basking in it, before gazing out at the cityscape before her that seemed to be almost turned to gold by the newborn sun's touch. Her nakedness while standing at a completely transparent object didn't bother her, and if there was anybody lucky enough to be up and at a window themselves they'd have got quite the eyeful. It was unlikely since the nearest building of a similar height was about half a mile away, but there could have been a crowd right outside and it still wouldn't have mattered to her.

After taking in the sights and feeling warmed up, she turned back to take in her current location. The room was fairly large for a bedroom, with a massive king-sized bed dominating the centre of it, while there still being room for a large wardrobe, several dressers, a computer terminal cum desk, some exercise equipment, several large chairs and an old-fashioned Earth bookcase filled with archaic literature. There was also a large plant in one corner that was looking a little pale and dry. Upon the main feature of the room lay Talia Ivanova, sleeping peacefully with a small smile on her lips. She was sprawled there on the left side of the bed; her back to the ceiling with an arm and a leg dangling over the side. The morning rays that woke Lylanya hadn't yet reached her to touch her bare skin, the only think covering her some tousled bedsheets that draped over the small of her back and part of her right leg and foot.

As Lylanya's eyes danced over the uncovered woman's alluring form, she couldn't help but be reminded of the time they shared together only a few hours earlier. Sure, what she had done was more work than pleasure, but that didn't mean she hadn't enjoyed it too. Talia had clearly enjoyed it too, given how easy it had been delving into the redhead's mind. The temptation to feel her bare blue flesh making renewed contact with Talia's soft peach skin and to kiss and caress every inch of it was certainly strong. But she pushed the carnal urges aside, knowing that she had to let the human sleep for the moment in order to make contact with Yalo and tell him of what she'd learned. Stepping over the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed, Lylanya retrieved something from the floor and made her way into the main room of Talia's apartment. Once the door had closed behind her, she activated her communicator and spoke quietly into it.

"This is Lylanya. Are you there, Yalo?"

There was silence for a while, and just as she was about to speak again she heard a familiar voice on the other end. It was not, however, Yalo's.

"Yes, I hear you. Yalo's not here at the moment," Haedian replied. "Well... he _is_ actually, but he's unavailable right now. He's sleeping and... recovering. Can I take a message?"

"Recovering?" Lylanya answered with puzzlement. "What do you mean by that?"

"Let's just say that there was... an... incident," Haedian said. "Best leave it at that. Will tell you more when you come back."

"I'll be there soon," she said. "Probably in a couple of hours... three at the most. If Yalo wakes up, can you tell him something?"

"Certainly."

"Well, I said 'tell' but I suppose 'ask' would have been better," Lylanya admitted. "Can you ask him if the name 'Cerberus' means anything to him?"

Haedian could hear Lylanya sigh uneasily, and then her tone grew dark and concerned with her next words. "Because I _know_ it does to me."


	18. Chapter 18

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 18**

Yalo opened his eyes to be greeted only by darkness boxed within cold walls and a cold floor and ceiling. Despite the icy appearance of his surroundings though, Yalo instead felt hot. Very hot. He could feel himself wrapped within his own suit, and for the first time he felt trapped and as if he were suffocating in it. It was supposed to regulate his temperature automatically, but he had vague and hazy recollections of a fight and being injured. Quickly he checked, unclear thoughts wafting through his head without form or substance, but with enough puzzle pieces made of fog for him to know that perhaps the thermoregulator had been damaged in whatever he had been involved in.

Things checked out fine, but still he felt as if he were burning up within a tight container with no way out. Ordinarily it was like a second skin to him, and as normal as the mandibles on a turian's jaw or the folds of skin upon an asari's head, but at the moment his enviro-suit was like a prison. His skin seemed sticky and clammy, and the mere touch of it against the inner layers of his suit felt restrictive and confining. It was an almost claustrophobic sensation, and every time he moved or shifted to try and isolate his skin from one part of it it would make contact in another. Worst of all was the heat, that just seemed to get worse and worse as each second passed, and on top of it all it was hard to breathe, with the air seeming particularly thick, warm and lacking in any sense of refreshment or purity. He groaned in frustration, wanting to simply tear himself free of the thing, but knowing he couldn't. He was close to madness when he made a particularly violent twist and smacked his upper right arm against something hard, which sent a jolt of both pain and reality into the quarian.

_Fever_.

The word whispered through his head like a passing ghost trapped in his mind. He stopped the gentle sobbing of self-pity and tried to think clearly. He had to put the almost overwhelming discomfort aside for the moment and focus on simply trying to muse things through. He had got here for a reason, and was feeling like this for a reason. He had to sort out why. Getting distressed when one doesn't even have enough information to know what they are distressed about was senseless after all. But thinking clear was hard, when invisible hands seemed to try and pull apart any semblance of reality and fill his mind with false answers that made too little sense to be true, but somehow came across as such despite this. All laws of reason would go out the window to create new ones, but every so often reality would manage to slip up to the surface and overcome all attempts to drown it, if only for a moment.

_Fever_.

The word floated by once more, and hearing it again was enough for one set of thoughts to break through the others and dominate his mind. He was suffering from a fever of some kind. He had been hurt, and probably contracted some kind of virus that was wreaking havoc with his inadequate immune system. Images of a salarian leaning over him bubbled to the surface until it was no longer just a salarian but somebody he knew. Images of fire soon followed, and they reminded him again of how hot he felt. He sought the tube in his helmet with his lips and sucked on it, hoping for nourishing refreshment but instead only getting tepid, stale liquid. Swallowing it revealed to him a sticky, slimy mass in the back of his throat that no doubt felt larger than it really was, and despite its liquid nature was surrounded by a rough dryness left arid even though water had just flowed over it. Yalo tried to swallow the glob away, but no amount of attempting would seem to dislodge it any more than it would his tongue.

Yalo thought that rest was probably the best thing for him now, since his body ached and he didn't really feel like moving all that much. Perhaps in time his fever would pass, and it would be best to simply sleep. He had vague recollections of Haedian saying something about flooding him with antibiotics and healing his injuries as best he could. If he was injured as well as sick then the fever would probably take longer to pass. Sleep was hard though, with the heat, his mind in a daze and the overall feeling of uncomfortable irritation all around him. The concept of time seemed lost somewhere amongst it all, so whether it was minutes, hours or even days was hard to gauge for the quarian. But at some point in the warmth and madness he lost consciousness again.

* * *

Darkness rolled away to reveal a blinding whiteness, causing Yalo to squint and hold his hands before his face. After a few moments the luminosity drew back, isolating itself and seeming to recede until it was a small, burning ball that Yalo could then block with one hand, surrounded by a rich blue with no texture or form to it. Yalo didn't understand what he was witnessing until something else came into his vision, drifting in from the right. It was white, streaky and downy, and Yalo recognised it: a cloud.

Yalo sat up, realising he was no longer lying upon an artificial surface any more. It was hard and firm like the bench in the cargo hold, but not as perfectly even and flat. It was dusty, but unlike most objects created by others it was supposed to be so. Yalo ran a hand across it, feeling the rough, gritty texture running beneath his palm and fingers. It reminded him of what he had done on the first planet he had ever landed on shortly after he had started his journey. He raised his head slightly to notice something not too far away, just ahead of him. Getting to his feet carefully, Yalo walked towards it to inspect it properly.

Yalo stopped at the edge of his new discovery and gazed out upon it. It was a large expanse of water stretching far into the distance. It was as blue as the sky above, only natural considering it was reflecting it perfectly off its flawless surface. It was so calm and still that Yalo began to question if it was even water at all, since it more closely resembled a giant mirror, with no signs of its liquid nature even present. Yalo looked down at his feet and there lay a small rock, the same dusty brown colour as the surface beneath them both. He stooped, picking it up, then casually tossed it up into the air to let gravity send it to the liquid beneath. There was a resounding plop as it made contact, separating a small blob of crystal water up into the air briefly before it too succumbed to gravity's hold and was again no longer a separate entity.

Yalo let out a small chuckle, then gasped as he looked down at the rippling rings before him. He frustratingly willed the water to calm and return to its previously tranquil state, and after a few moments it did, confirming his suspicions: he wasn't wearing a helmet. He brought one three-fingered hand up to his face to be sure, watching in awe as the image mirrored his action until he jumped a little as he felt a fingertip touch his lower lip. He hadn't seen that face since he had stood aboard the _Lerta_, seen reflected in Elli's visor just before he hid it away from the universe. He thought that the clean room where he and Elli shared their last moments together would have been the last time he'd ever see it.

He heard a noise from behind him that sounded like distant voices. Turning around he found himself gasping yet again as he witnessed dozens upon dozens of his own people walking around and beneath a mass of different sized buildings. Like him they all had their helmets off, wandering about casually throughout a glorious quarian city. Where there weren't houses and quarians there were fountains and pools, bushes and trees and other smaller structures and objects. He recognised the water features and plants from the quarian Liveship he'd visited once shortly after getting his suit: the _Rayya_. As he got closer he noticed stalls on one of the streets which were a concoction of ones he'd seen on his travels since leaving the Flotilla and his people's own trading decks. The architecture of the buildings he recognised from images he'd seen of Rannoch prior to them being forced off of it by The Geth.

Wandering through what appeared to be the main street, Yalo passed by other quarians and objects until he came to a tall statue that reminded him somewhat of some of the ones he had been looking at on Earth. It appeared to be made of the same rock he'd seen around him earlier, and depicted a male quarian with one arm pointed skyward. It was at least five times the size of whomever it represented, and unlike those who wandered around it was fully helmeted and suited. Yalo chuckled to himself quietly.

_Like that it could be almost any quarian_, he thought to himself. _How could anybody tell who that is supposed to be?_

Looking down he found the answer in the form of a small plague at the base of the statue, and he found himself emitting yet another gasp as he read the name etched there in capital letters: YALO'PALA VAS NEW RANNOCH NAR LERTA.

Yalo smiled to himself, then looked back up at the statue. He was about to reach out and make contact with the sculpture when the skies grew suddenly sinister above, and the once clean sapphire was replaced by rolling, rumbling clouds of darkness. There was a flash of bright light all around and afterwards the statue before him had changed. It was still a quarian like before, but instead of reaching up to the sky it had a gun pointed down at the ground, which at the moment was aimed straight at Yalo's head. The once warm brown and well-maintained nature of it had changed to a dull grey tone streaked with cracks and chips, and the buildings beyond seemed just as dead and lifeless as the statue itself. Yalo took a step back, looking down to see the name upon the plaque had changed too: YALO VAS NEDAS NAR TASI.

"Yalo... crew of nowhere," Yalo whispered, his voice dead and distant. "Child of no one."

With a chill running down his spine, Yalo turned around to leave, only to find himself blocked by what seemed like an endless sea of quarians. All were fully-suited, but the suits were barely more than bedraggled rags hanging off broken metal, warped plastics and tarnished ceramic. Some were devoid of any covering over their arms or legs, some had the tubes running up into their helmets clearly severed or punctured, and others had cracks and holes in their visors and helmets, where dead eyes would peer from beyond jagged shards. There was nothing but an ominous silence for what seemed like an age, until one at the front took a single step forward and raised an arm to point straight at Yalo.

"He is the one!" the voice said, condemning and accusing. "He is the one that destroyed us!"

There was a loud outcry and thousands upon thousands of angry voices, all crying out at once. The group surged forward and Yalo felt over a dozen hands grasping and clawing at him. Throughout all the yelling and screaming he could still make out individual voices as they swamped him.

"Traitor!"

"Murderer!"

"Yalo vas Nedas! Yalo nar Tasi!"

"Crew of nowhere! Child of no one!"

Soon the whole thing seemed to almost become a chant, with them repeating the names and what they meant over and over, all as one. They assaulted away at him and he felt his suit being wrenched apart in their grasps until it was all torn from his body. When the last shred of covering left him, they all seemed back away, leaving him lying on the ground naked. He looked up to see them on all sides, leaving him isolated from them within a circle of otherwise empty space created by their bodies that couldn't have been much more than a couple of metres in diameter. From out of the crowd a single quarian stepped forward, holding something in her arms. It wasn't until she spoke that Yalo recognised who it was.

"Is this the future you want to give us, Yalo?" Elli'Neda nar Geddes asked. "Is this the future you want to give our children?"

She held out the object towards him, and Yalo recognised what it was and the small thing housed within it. It was one of the quarian containment orbs that all young inhabited before they got their first suits at adolescence, and within was a small, baby quarian that couldn't have been more than a year old. At first he thought she was giving him the infant, but she then pulled the object that held it back and shifted it to hold it in only one arm. The other disappeared behind her briefly and when it returned it brandished a long, slim and very sharp-looking dagger. She raised the dagger above her head, then paused to speak to Yalo.

"Watch carefully, Yalo," she said, her voice so bitter Yalo had expected acid to eat away at her helmet from the inside. "Because this is what _you've_ done."

Yalo could only watch in shock as the blade came down, piercing the top of the bubble. There was an audible hiss as Elli removed the dagger, and the child within became noticeably distressed. It's eyes went wide, and then it coughed and began to make choking sounds. It began spluttering, and whenever it wasn't doing that it whimpered and sobbed. It looked for a way to escape, but there was none, as it frantically scurried around within the ball and clawed its way at every surface. It wasn't long before the coughs became only wheezes, and the once frantic movements slowed until it eventually slumped in the centre of the ball and was still. Yalo could feel tears running down his cheeks as he witnessed its final breath, just before Elli coldly tossed the ball down onto him. It landed on his stomach and just sat there as Yalo stared at the dead quarian baby, lying there as still as his own statue.

Eventually he scrambled to his feet, letting it roll away as he tried to put as much distance between him and it as possible. The crowd parted for him, almost flowing away as he scrambled through them, his eyes fixed on the small ball as it got further and further away. Not looking where he was going, Yalo's heels made contact with something hard and he stumbled backwards. The back of his head struck something cold and dense, the impact causing him to stumble forwards and land face-first on the hard ground. Yalo rolled himself wearily onto his back, gazing up at the still-rolling ebony clouds churning above him. He heard a crumbling, crackling sound, and drew his gaze back down and ahead to see the base of his own statue beginning to crack and break. The massive structure leaned forward, casting a shadow over Yalo that was so cold it burned. He didn't try to escape it, instead just closing his eyes as inevitability struck him.

* * *

Yalo jolted awake with a gasp, it taking him a while to adjust to his surroundings. It was dark all around him, but there was still enough light to see. He was in _Karina's_ cargo hold, surrounded by little more than walls and a few crates. Upon the crates sat a familiar figure who gazed down upon him with bright blue eyes of concern.

"Lyl-" Yalo started, then coughed. "Lylanya?"

"Yes. It's me," she said simply. Her voice wasn't exactly cold, but there was little emotion in it. It was like she was trying to sound comforting, but something within the depths of herself held it back.

"What... what happened?" Yalo asked, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

He jumped a little when it made contact with his helmet, half-expecting it to touch the skin there itself, but was then thankful that it wasn't the case. Lylanya leant forward, her elbows on her lap and hands cupped into a ball before her lips. She rocked back and forth subtly, her eyes on the floor rather than on him.

"I'm not _entirely_ sure," she admitted. "That depends how much of what Haedian told me is true." Her eyes darted up to fix on him. "What do _you_ know?"

The hand that was once upon Yalo's helmet dropped to the floor as the arm attached to it sagged lifelessly over the edge of the bench. A sharp pain shot up it, reminding Yalo of something at least.

"It's all hazy," Yalo admitted in frustration, slightly strained as he bore the already fading pain and slightly rough from his sore throat. "I've been out of it. I got into a fight with Intarr. He found out about what happened with you and me and Haedian escaping and all. I thought I was done for until Haedian fired up the engine right when Intarr was standing right behind the ship. After that I lost consciousness... I vaguely remember waking up a few times... Haedian telling me about a fever and fixing me up. I was pretty screwy in the head. I think I thought he was a Geth at one point or something."

"Much of that synchs up with what Haedian said," Lylanya said. "Did he give you the message I told him to?"

"I don't know," Yalo said, swallowing afterwards to at least shift some of the bile in his throat. "He may have. This is the closest I've been to clear-headed since fighting Intarr."

Yalo let his head sag sideways to look at Lylanya. For the first time she noticed she could now make out the two vague pale patches beyond his visor that were his eyes.

"I _had_ to do it," he said, and Lylanya noticed a regret in his voice that she had never recalled hearing from him before. "He knew, and he wanted to kill me for it. Either he died or I did. I didn't want to kill him... up until that moment, he was a good and loyal friend."

Yalo sighed and returned his gaze to the ceiling above.

"Unlike me. I didn't deserve him. It doesn't seem right for me to live and him to die, but... I need to do what I need to do. My task is more important than my life... or his. Individuals are nothing compared to the greater good."

"That may be true," Lylanya said. "But you need to be sure that what you're doing _is_ the greater good."

"Nobody can be sure of that," Yalo said. "Only time answers that question. The best we can do is have good intentions through our actions, even if the actions themselves aren't good. Our actions can set things in motion and attempt to push them in a certain direction, but what _actually_ happens is another matter. The rest depends on circumstances, and the choices of others."

"Well I guess that explains whether you're clear-headed now or not," Lylanya said. "The Doctor does good work it seems."

"I can mostly think straight, but everything is still a bit unclear and nothing quite feels real." He let out a sigh. "How long was I out? What time is it?"

"You've been in and out for most of the day. It's Thursday night now. A good thing you're back considering the meeting it midday tomorrow. I was starting to wonder whether we'd need to cancel or whether I'd have to go there alone to represent you."

"I'll be ready for that, don't worry. How did your date slash recon mission go?"

"Very good, on both counts. I think I found what you wanted. But it scares me a little." She paused. "What do you know of 'Cerberus?'"

Yalo's neck twisted as he looked back at her. She noticed him blink twice quickly.

"Cerberus? Aren't they some kind of human merc group of some kind or something?"

"You're half right," Lylanya said. "They're a pro-human terrorist organisation who hate aliens. They're very secretive, or at least try to be, but there's enough known about them to worry me. Rumours suggest they perform barbaric experiments, will do anything to achieve results and gain power and want nothing more than to either scour the universe of non-human life or at the very least put humanity in charge of the known galaxy. They're supposedly independent of the main human Alliance and considered extremist radicals even by them, but for all we know that could be a cover and secretly they really are supporting them. They're getting funding and support from somewhere, that's for sure. They've got the resources to get a lot of info and remain surprisingly secretive. From what I gather even the salarians know little of the organisation, and you know what their intelligence gathering capabilities are."

"What's that got to do with Levine?"

"I went into his secretary's mind last night. Well... early this morning, actually. He's linked with them, and we can use that to get what you want from him. For him to be linked with Cerberus... if the public knew, it would pretty much destroy his reputation. Perhaps even his entire business empire."

"This is perfect!" Yalo exclaimed, sitting up. "This is just what I need. With that over his head, he'll definitely help us out."

"But indirectly," Lylanya said, eyes filled with concern. "Don't you see... he won't deal with this directly, it's too messy. He'll get Cerberus to handle it. If we use this you'll basically be putting your people into Cerberus' hands. Is that something you really want, knowing what they are?"

"Yes," Yalo answered firmly. "This isn't a problem, it's a benefit. They'll have the resources to pull this off and the immorality to not be bothered by it. If they're a pro-human hate group who _want_ to have aliens subservient to them as you said, being able to control the _entire_ quarian race won't only _not_ be an issue, but they'll welcome it. But in the end, ultimately they will fail, because the greatest power in the universe is not that wielded by tyrants, dictators, rulers and strength of arms: it is the need for freedom."

"But the quarians already _are_ free now," Lylanya noted.

"Only from others, but not from themselves," Yalo countered. "One can only have the need for freedom when one realises they aren't free. My people are caught in that limbo between freedom and slavery that leads them to _believe_ they have the former, and that very belief is why it is instead the latter. Only by breaking out of the ignorance and taking the necessary steps can they dislodge themselves from that place."

"So why not break out into freedom? Why the other way?"

"Because freedom comes with a price," Yalo answered. "One cannot simply 'be free' on a whim. One must _fight_ for it. The right to freedom comes from strength, and strength comes from struggle."

"Haven't your people struggled enough?" Lylanya put forth.

"They would have. But they stopped struggling centuries ago. And it has made them weak."

"_You're_ not weak," Lylanya said, placing one hand on one of Yalo's knees. Yalo looked into her steadfast eyes and smiled from beyond his visor.

"What do you believe happens to us when we die?" Yalo asked Lylanya, seemingly out of the blue. "When we die is that simply... it? Or is there something more to us that lives on?"

Lylanya didn't know how to respond to that. She sat back, her eyes drifting sideways to look at nothing in thought. After a good five or six seconds she spoke.

"There are many different theories and beliefs. Amongst the asari, those that follow the siari religion believe that the entire universe is a massive consciousness of which every life is a part. A person's body is just a shell, and when one dies their spiritual energy leaves their mortal form and returns to the universe. Take from that what you will and believe what you like of it."

"I like that," Yalo said with a small chuckle. "It would certainly seem very fitting."

Lylanya's brow twisted in confusion and Yalo simply got to his feet without further explanation.

"Come on. We should prepare for this meeting tomorrow," the quarian said. "If this works, it'll all be over very soon. And -in another sense- will all _begin_ soon as well."


	19. Chapter 19

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 19**

**_Dedicated to the memory of Annette White_**  
_**(1942 - 2010)**_

The restaurant where Yalo and Lylanya were to meet Mr. Levine was not the first place the two aliens visited when the Friday sun rose on Washington D.C.. As promised a few days earlier, Lylanya was going to make sure that Yalo was a bit tidier for his appointment with the human business guru, and if he hadn't needed sprucing up when he'd first raised the issue with her a couple of days ago, he certainly did after his scuffle with Intarr. Dr. Haedian had taken care of the main punctures around his arm and shoulder, but it hadn't left these areas looking particularly tidy as a result. Beyond that his suit was dirty and much of the cloth was ragged and torn, even more so than it already had been. The harder constituents of his suit were scratched, scraped and dented in several places, and there were small remnants of hardened glass in the groves around his still-intact visor.

"Do you want to go for a new look, or are we sticking with the purple?" Lylanya said playfully, unrolling a piece of thick material before him that looked very similar in nature to the cloth that adorned his chest, head, neck and legs. The main difference beyond a slight alteration in the textured pattern was the colour: a bright, almost fluorescent green.

"I'll stick with the purple," Yalo answered. "I don't want Mr. Levine distracted too much by what I'm wearing to the point where he fails to actually take what I'm saying seriously."

"It will take more than bright green cloth to distract his attention," Lylanya said with a smirk. "After all, _I'll_ be there as well."

She gave him a wink and Yalo simply shook his head. The quarian gazed around the store as Lylanya looked for some more fabric, taking note that there were others taking note of him. All of them were human, and most of them turned away quickly when his helmet faced them.

"You'd think they'd never seen a quarian before," he said with a hint of contempt.

"There's a good chance many of them haven't," Lylanya said matter-of-factly from behind him, still rifling through rolls of fabric. "Not all species are required to go out into the universe like yours are, and many humans haven't left even this planet. Remember Talia and her brother."

"I know _you_ do," Yalo joked. "At least in the case of the former, anyway."

"Every millimetre," Lylanya said with melted butter. "Speaking of which, how much of this stuff do you think you'll need?"

"I don't know. I didn't actually _make_ my own suit," Yalo answered. "Just measure what's here."

"I don't suppose this place has quarian-safe changing rooms," Lylanya teased, then she made a small squeal of delight. "I think I've found something for you!"

"You've found some cloth, not a million credits," Yalo mocked.

"I can't help myself," she answered, whipping out a slim cylinder wrapped in deep purple. "This reminds me of my youth, when my mother used to make beautiful clothes for me and she would let me pick the material myself."

"You miss those times, don't you?"

"I do. But I wouldn't go back to them, all the same," Lylanya responded. "I miss my mother though, even after so many years. Probably more for the circumstances surrounding our parting than the absence itself. I suspect there's a difference to an absence from her out of choice and absence out of necessity."

Lylanya unraveled the material in front of Yalo. It was very dark, and yet rich as well, with an angled, patterned texture that crisscrossed. "Well?"

"It will suffice," Yalo said with a nod.

"'It will _suffice_?'" Lylanya repeated, cocking one brow. Yalo sighed.

"It's great then. Happy?"

"No. It sounded so forced," Lylanya said, her brow wrinkling. "Go and find out how much you'll need. We'll get a bit extra for your upper arms as well."

"Why?"

"We need to conceal where the bullet hit you with something. Most of the rest will buff out, but that'll need to be covered." She sighed. "Dr. Haedian may do good work with sealing it up again, but he's hardly _neat_."

"I don't think it will matter too much," Yalo stated, heading off to remove what cloth he could from his suit. "Once we've started talking, he'll listen. No matter how scraggly I am."

* * *

Only a few hours later he and Lylanya showed up at the location of their appointment, Yalo adorned in completely new material that no longer resembled desiccated foliage. Not only had most of the scratches, scrapes and dents in the less soft parts of his suit been mostly either buffed out or covered, but he'd even gone to the trouble of cleaning and even polishing it a bit. Lylanya once again wore an elegant dress, though this time a new one she had found shortly after helping Yalo. It was actually a human dress, which was easy for Lylanya to wear due to the physical similarities between humans and asari. While buying the garment Lylanya had commented to Yalo that she suspected her mother had been very pleased when her species first made contact with the humans and her customer base would have near on doubled without her having to even make any alterations. In keeping with her preference for darker colours, Lylanya was wrapped in a sleek, black dress that draped down to just above her knees, with a high collar and plunging neckline.

The dining establishment where they were meeting Ivan Levine was a lot fancier and a lot brighter than the one Lylanya had spent time with Talia a couple of nights ago. There was bright green foliage everywhere between the perfectly set tables, a couple of elegant fountains spraying crystal liquid into the air and the soft melodious tinkle of fingers on ivory from a grand piano in the far right corner. Situated high in the air atop one of Washington D.C.'s tallest structures, balconies surrounded all sides bar one. A handsome young man with jet black hair approached the two newcomers shortly after they had taken in their surroundings, wearing clothing so refined and perfect that creases seemed scared to sully them no matter how he moved.

"Hello. May I help you?"

The man spoke rather politely, but both visitors could sense a hint of curious concern from him. Lylanya smiled politely as if to ignore it and responded.

"Yes. I am Miss Lylanya Alanthios, and this is Mr. Yalo'Pala nar Lerta. We have a reservation and appointment with Mr. Levine."

"Ah, yes. Of course," the man smiled with a gentle bow. "Mr. Levine has a table reserved outside for the three of you. Please, follow me."

The waiter lead the way, taking the two of them to the left past the piano and through an opening that lead outside. The way the flora draped down from above when making the transition made one feel as if they were leaving something crafted by nature itself rather than the hands of an imperfect being, and the waterfalls that cascaded down on either side of them only served to add to the illusion. The man kept going past a few other tables and chairs until they ascended a small staircase up to a more isolated table within an arching booth. There was a long, curved booth seat on the other side of the oval table, the backs of which were about a metre high from seat to top. In the top of these were plants and flowers, and beyond that was a thin air and a long drop to the ground, as the whole thing perched out over the edge of the building. Their host turned to Yalo and Lylanya, gesturing towards the table.

"Please take a seat, Sir and Madam. I'm sure Mister Levine will be here shortly. I will summon you a waiter to see to your needs."

The sophisticated young man waved something small over a tiny black dot on the edge of the booth, causing the spinning holographic lettering hovering above the table that read 'RESERVED' to disappear, then minced back inside the building. Lylanya slid into the booth seat first, then Yalo joined her, immediately looking down at the items upon the table.

"I'm not exactly sure what they expect _me_ to do at a table like this," he commented. "Do you think they have uncontaminated dextro-protein paste here?"

"That's a little low-class for a place like this, don't you think? Perhaps you can start with a nice d-aparagine asparagus soup, move onto a d-serine steak for your main course, then finish up with a rich d-proline praline dessert," Lylanya mocked.

Yalo simply gave her a look, just as a new waiter ascended the steps to greet them and hand them some menus and a wine list. Lylanya simply asked for some local wine to taste, but beyond that they said they'd wait until Mr. Levine arrived before ordering. It was only a few short minutes after the waiter departed with a bow that the man in question arrived. Lylanya nudged Yalo to get to his feet as the magnate approached, then stood up herself. Ivan Levine's charisma was clear from their first sight of him, before the man had even spoken a word. Despite being a in an atmosphere of haughty arrogance, Levine seemed dignified and yet very real and natural at the same time. He was dressed and groomed extremely well, like any plutocrat there, but he had a friendly sparkle to his eyes and seemed to bound up the stairs in a casual, friendly manner, rather than making any attempt to move with the strained conceitedness that the staff and most of the other patrons did. He had youthful good looks and a confident and friendly smile, with a vivid spark to his eyes that just immediately made you like and trust him. As he stopped before them with a friendly nod, both Yalo and Lylanya had to think twice about this man. They both initially wanted to be his friend, but the thoughts of what they'd learned about him that had momentarily vanished soon returned again.

"Hello. You two must be Yalo and Lylanya," he said in a cheery voice that seemed to laugh a little with each word. "As you probably have guessed, I'm Ivan Levine."

He reached out with his right hand, and after a little hesitation Yalo responded in kind and they shook. Lylanya followed suit, but instead of shaking hers Ivan took it to his lips and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. She blushed slightly, or at least hoped that's what it looked like. If colour came to her cheeks it was because the man angered and disgusted her. And yet, she couldn't help but admire him at the same time, even if it was a nauseated admiration.

_He's good_, she thought. _If I didn't know it myself, I'd never have suspected or believed it._

"Please, my friends... have a seat," Levine said cheerfully. "Please, sit! Sit!"

Being waved towards the table and seats, Lylanya and Yalo returned to their places at the table, while Ivan went around the other side and sat down as well.

"Have you ordered yet?" he asked, then pointed at the silver bucket with the bottle in it upon the table. "Besides the wine, of course."

"We decided to wait for you," Lylanya said. "Though to be honest, I'm not particularly hungry right now."

"A bit strange to be having a lunch meeting then," Ivan joked, and he waved over the already approaching waiter. Lylanya smirked.

"I initially planned to have something early this afternoon, but I was overcome by hunger, so instead I had something nice to eat earlier."

She took a sip of her wine as Yalo coughed awkwardly in his helmet. Ivan gave him an odd look.

"Sorry. I caught a little virus recently," the quarian answered. "Don't worry, it's not serious."

Their waiter arrived and Ivan ordered himself a glass of water and the soup of the day for starters.

"Sure you don't want something a bit stronger?" Lylanya asked him, keeping a straight face and with a tone that was probably a little too serious.

"I have work this afternoon," Ivan answered. "Best not to."

Lylanya made a little noise and shrug. "Don't say I didn't suggest it," she said, then took another sip.

"So then. What can I help you two with?" Ivan queried as the waiter departed, leaning forward on the table with his elbows. "My secretary basically told me that it has something to do with some uninhabited rock brimming with eezo, and you giving it to me for some reason. Beyond that, I don't really know much else."

"Actually, we want you to _buy_ the planet in question," Yalo answered. "We don't have it yet, but we know who does. You can have the planet and the eezo, and we'll even provide the labour for you to mine it."

"All right, I'm listening," Ivan said. "Who has the planet currently?"

"Binary Helix," Yalo answered. "We offered to broker a deal with them, but they refused to deal with us based on the terms of the conditions regarding the labour. They will, however, more likely deal with you. You're a reputable businessman after all. On top of that, they're currently in a bit of a financial and popularity crisis due to recent events that may or may not have taken place on Noveria. They don't have the resources to even mine the eezo at the moment."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that," Ivan said thoughtfully. "Rumours of links to Matriarch Benezia and Saren Arterius prior to the Geth attack on The Citadel. But I'm still not quite clear on the situation fully. For starters, what exactly put them off your proposal in the first place? You said it was to do with the nature of the labour."

"Because the labour I was offering was roughly seventeen _million_ quarians," Yalo answered plainly.

There was a grim silence, and Ivan's eyes widened immensely.

"Excuse me?" he eventually said.

"The proposed labour force is the entire quarian flotilla," Yalo explained further. "They didn't want to be linked with the slavery of an entire race."

"And neither do I!" Ivan exclaimed, getting to his feet. "I don't care _how_ profitable this deal could be! This meeting is over!"

As he turned to go, Lylanya got to her feet in a blur of black and blue and called out towards the departing human.

"What does the name 'Cerberus' mean to you, Mr. Levine?"

Ivan stopped in his tracks, frozen at the pinnacle of the staircase like a statue. The only movements he made were the slight twisting of his neck to the left and his eyes looking back over his shoulder at the asari.

"Last I heard they didn't have a very good reputation, neither amongst the human Alliance and the Council races," the asari continued. "A man with a good name such as yourself certainly wouldn't want to be involved with them in any way. And on the off chance that he was, he definitely wouldn't want it to be public knowledge."

Ivan's eyeballs twisted back around and the eyelids narrowed over them. He glanced ahead, noting that there was only one set of tables and chairs occupied outside besides the one behind him, and the two humans sitting there were too busy talking about something else to have noticed him or what Lylanya had called out. He let out a sigh.

"Follow me to my office," he finally said without looking back, his voice cold and decisive. "We'll discuss things more there."

He resumed his exit immediately and swiftly, as if the last word was some kind of trigger to walk again, disappearing back into the restaurant within seconds. Lylanya looked down at Yalo and the quarian got to his feet.

"Let's go," he said, then hastily strode off in the same direction as Ivan. Lylanya paused for a moment, then picked up her wine glass again. She emptied the remaining contents down the back of her throat in one swift motion, then clacked it down upon the table firmly before following suit.

* * *

It didn't take long to get to Cirrostratus Industries, and the way all the staff inside simply let them pass through the building without barely a word indicated to both Yalo and Lylanya that they were more than expected. Entering Levine's personal offices had them discovering a rather rattled and confused looking Talia Ivanova standing and looking at the left doorway just beyond the portrait of Levine himself. She flicked her head towards Yalo and Lylanya as they entered as if their arrival was a shock, then twisted one eyebrow before speaking.

"He's ready to see you straight away," Talia said, curious confusion floating on the words.

She stepped back to allow them access, and as Lylanya passed her by she noticed concern within the young woman's eyes amidst the perplexity. If was as if Talia's eyes were saying "I've never seen him like this before!" while asking "what's going on?" at the same time. Lylanya only answered silently in kind with eyes that said "I'm sorry" before she disappeared with Yalo into the room beyond.

The room they found themselves in was large, yet simple. The outer walls to the north and west were all large panes of tinted glass that looked out upon the city, while the others had a plain wooden texture to them. There were a few simple pot plants in the corners, but beyond that there was simple a large, long desk surrounded by chairs. At the north end of this desk sat Ivan Levine, leaning forward on the desk from a chair a little larger than the others. The cheery and trusting smile that had glossed his face upon their first meeting with him was gone and replaced with a slight frown and a mouth that was barely more than a flat line between his moustache and chin. For a good ten to fifteen seconds or so there was nothing but dead silence in the room, and then Ivan Levine finally spoke up.

"Cerberus," he stated, followed by a pregnant pause. "Cerberus are a pro-human terrorist organisation who will do whatever it takes to have humanity win whatever galactic race there may be out there between us and the other alien races. The only thing that Cirrostratus Industries shares with them is a desire for humanity to grow strong and not be left behind. Beyond that, we couldn't be any more different. I'm insulted that you would even associate me with them in the slightest."

"Then why didn't you just leave?" Yalo asked. "Why did you tell us to come and speak to you here? Why didn't you just deny anything and everything on the spot and just go?"

"Linking my name and the name of my company with Cerberus in _any_ way would be very, _very_ bad for me and Cirrostratus Industries, not to mention my other companies," Ivan answered. "Are you honestly telling me you don't believe that there are reporters, journalists and business rivals surrounding me almost _constantly_ and just waiting for anything to sully my good name to crop up? It doesn't matter if it's true or not, the mere implication alone can cause more than enough damage. And the cleaner you are, the quicker they are to point out any possible dirt."

"Then let's explore what _is_ true, Mr. Levine," Lylanya said, stepping forward past Yalo to glare at the tycoon. "How about I start and you stop me if I get anything wrong?"

"Go ahead," Ivan invited. He sounded confident for the most part, but Lylanya could detect the slightest hint of concern behind his words.

"Okay then," she said. "Where shall I start? We've already established that Cerberus is a pro-human terrorist organisation, who -apparently- unofficially do whatever they can to put humans at the top of the galactic food chain. We know they're well-funded for such a small group, so it's often been suspected that they get regular donations and-slash-or funding from anonymous humans and human businessmen that can afford to do so. From those who share their general beliefs and goals. You -Mr. Levine- happen to be a rich, human businessman who shares similar beliefs and goals."

"_Some_ of their goals, perhaps," Ivan said. "That doesn't prove a thing. Lots of humans are patriots and want to see our species grow strong. That doesn't make us terrorists or supporters of terrorists."

"No, of course it doesn't," Lylanya answered, beginning to circle around the far end of the table. "After all, you're squeaky clean, Mr. Levine. There's not a single piece of dirt on you, or any of your companies. You're a shining beacon of morality and clean business for the human race."

"That's right," Ivan agreed.

"Because you let Cerberus get their hands dirty for you," Lylanya stated firmly. "Because it benefits both of you for them to do so. See, this is how it basically goes: You help fund Cerberus by giving them a few million credits every now and then, and they do all the stuff that would be considered 'dirty business practices' for you in an unofficial capacity. They get rid of rivals, sort out obstacles, stage convenient accidents... all those sorts of things, and then you just happen to be the one to benefit from them, with no direct links between your company and the downfall of these obstacles whatsoever. On top of the money you give them anonymously, you serve to make humanity look good in an otherwise dirty world of business. The alien-run corporations look corrupt and evil by comparison, as do any human rivals, and thus not only you but humanity as a whole looks all the better for it. You even share research, data and other non-monetary resources to help each other grow."

Lylanya had circled back around the other side by this point and was only a few metres away from Ivan. She perched herself on the edge of the table, then leaned forward so that her own face was only a few inches from his own.

"You're humanity's poster boy for good, honest business," she said matter-of-factly. "Thanks to Cerberus."

"And if it were to become common knowledge, both you and your company would crumble," Yalo added.

"What proof do you even have?" Ivan accused. "For all I know that could just be a pathetic theory you've concocted to get to me."

"Does it matter?" Lylanya answered, now standing again with her arms crossed. "_How_ we know is irrelevant. The fact that we do is not."

"So that's what this is all about, is it?" Ivan sneered. "You're blackmailing me so that you can get-"

Ivan cut himself off, his brow wrenching in confusion.

"Wait! What exactly _is_ it that you want? For me to just simply buy some eezo-filled dust ball so you can give me a bunch of quarians to help me mine it?" He paused. "What are you actually _getting_ out of this?"

"Aside from a cut of the eezo profits?" Yalo said. "Well, there's another factor we haven't mentioned yet. We have a piece of rare, experimental technology that could help put your company -and humanity- on the map."

"Which is?"

"An advanced terraforming device in its prototype stage, and the salarian scientist in charge of the project. It's non-Council approved technology smuggled straight from a research base belonging to The Salarian Union itself. Once properly developed it will allow you to terraform any planet in a fraction of the time current standard methods can. And we want to sell you the data, the prototype and the head researcher himself."

"And what do you get out of giving me an apparently experimental and potentially innovative technology?" Ivan queried.

"The doctor behind it, Doctor Haedian, wants fame and glory for one," Yalo said. "He's helped me out in the past and wants the credit due to him for his work. That's something the Salarian government wouldn't allow, considering the project was top-secret and hidden from even The Council. Beyond that, we just want a lot of money."

"So what exactly is your whole agenda here then?" Ivan posed.

"That you get Cerberus to purchase the planet from Binary Helix in a secret deal. We'll organise it so that The Migrant Fleet are led to the planet with false information. They'll believe me because I'm one of them. Then, using your ties with Cerberus, you get them to have a small offensive force hidden near the planet. Upon arrival the Migrant Fleet will suffer an accident and be rendered helpless, with no choice but to agree to Cerberus' demands of forced labour. We give you Haedian and the technology, which once complete will allow you to terraform new worlds quickly for future colonisation. We all profit greatly from a new technology, a great source of eezo and the potential for expansion, as well as solidifying a place for your species in the galaxy."

"Won't The Council object once they find out all the quarians are being basically enslaved by somebody on another world?" Ivan put forth, his hazel eyes narrowing.

"It's located in The Terminus Systems. They have no jurisdiction there," Yalo said plainly. "Whoever their masters are will have full control over things." A pause. "Besides... when did The Council ever care about the quarians? They haven't cared what happened to us for three centuries, and they're not about to start now. They won't risk a war with The Terminus Systems over something like this. They'll probably even welcome it secretly, no longer having to worry about The Migrant Fleet getting in the way and sucking their colonies dry of resources whenever they pass by."

"It does sound very profitable for both of us, I must admit," Levine admitted, leaning back and rubbing his chin. "I'll need some of my people to go over some of your work and data on this terraforming device you mentioned. Not fully, but just enough to make sure the concept has merit and potential and isn't just some hoax or pipe dream. You understand, of course?"

"Except for the term 'pipe dream' I think I do," Yalo said. "I can get Doctor Haedian to come up with some information he feels would sell the device. He would know how much to show you so as to whet your appetite, while not revealing too much. You understand, of course?"

"That would suffice," Ivan nodded, and then he leaned forward, looking and sounding a little reluctant and confused, and yet curious at the same time. "I do have one more question, however."

"Yes?"

"Why are you so willing to sell your _entire_ species into slavery?"

There was a cold silence, and the iciest part of it seemed to drift somewhere between Ivan, Yalo and Lylanya. The two non-humans exchanged brief glances, and Yalo could see a familiar look in the asari's eye that looked set to transfer to her lips at any minute.

"I have no real reason," Yalo said.

"Actually, there _is_ a reason," Lylanya immediately followed up with, talking directly to Levine in an urgent manner.

"And that _reason_... is my own," Yalo blurted out as soon as she'd finished her last word, glaring at Lylanya. His attention shifted back to Ivan Levine. "All you need to know is that you'll be very rich, and that humanity will grow for it."

"At the expense of your own species?" Ivan asked, more confused than concerned.

"My species don't _deserve_ to thrive any more, Mr. Levine," Yalo answered coldly. "They had their chance before, and they blew it. Since then they've had three _hundred_ years to pull themselves back up off their feet, and they've failed to even do that. What future do they really have? At least this way they can serve somebody in some manner, rather than just slowly dying between the stars in overbuilt mausoleums."

Yalo looked across at Lylanya. He could see the mixed emotions in her large, sapphire eyes. Disappointment, sadness, anger and even revulsion. It was all there. The important thing was, she kept her mouth shut.

"I'll need to talk to my contact in Cerberus," Ivan said after a moment of consideration. "This is a sensitive situation and must be handled _just_ right. In the meantime, I suggest sending this Doctor Haedian to see me. Hopefully I'll have an answer for you within a few hours time. I believe my secretary knows how to contact you?"

"She does," Yalo said with a nod.

"Good. I'll get onto this straight away and if all goes well, we'll both be very wealthy in the near future. It still depends on Cerberus of course, but I doubt they'll have too many ethical issues with this. It's probably more whether they think they can handle it given the scope and whether _you_ can pull it off."

"I can," Yalo said. "I have few doubts about that."

The two shook hands with Lylanya looking on, neither of them noticing the frown upon her face. Yalo made his way to the door and she followed him. As soon as the door closed behind both of them, a lone figure stepped swiftly past Yalo and Lylanya felt a firm, sharp sensation of pain across her left cheek. When her wince had lapsed, she saw two teary green eyes glaring at her in anger.

"You... you _used_ me!" Talia Ivanova accused. "You used me to get his secrets somehow! How could you _do_ that? I thought... I thought you actually _cared_ about me, but I was just a pawn in your little game!"

For a split second Lylanya's face looked saddened, but she quickly frowned a little and a smirk came to her lips.

"What does it matter, honey?" she replied, eyes in a half-lidded, seductive gaze. "We got what we wanted, your boss is going to get what he wants. We'll both become richer, _you_ will become richer, and your species will be a force to be reckoned with in a decade or so."

"Are you... are you _really_ so cold?" Talia asked in shock, taking a few steps backwards. Lylanya's smirk grew.

"Like you said, it's just a game, beautiful," the asari answered, reaching out with one hand to stroke the redhead's cheek. "I played by part, and you played yours. Now it's time to move on because that part of the game is over."

"Don't touch me!" Talia snapped, pushing Lylanya's arm aside. "Just... just go."

"A pity," Lylanya said with a sigh. "I wouldn't have minded a rematch in the future."

She gave Talia a wink, then followed Yalo out into the hallway.

* * *

In an unknown and distant part of the galaxy near an unknown star, a single figure sat and gazed out upon the swirling, oval spatial phenomenon. Beyond the modest chair he sat in, there was little else in the room he occupied, if it could even be called a room. The whole place was almost more like a massive balcony unto the universe itself, with the burning circle of fire in front of the figure and nothing but darkness behind him, hiding any indication of construction or form to the place beyond the flat, shiny floor on which his chair was perched.

It was a human man in the seat, leaning casually on one armrest with his legs crossed. In his right hand was a fat glass, half-filled with an amber liquid; a cigarette poking from the edge of the receptacle between his index and middle finger. He wore a dark, striped suit that looked both comfortable and stylish, with a neat white shirt underneath with an open collar that exposed his upper chest. He was neither young nor old, his perfectly groomed hair somewhere in the transition from a mousy brown complexion to grey. It wasn't the only thing perfect about him, thanks to an absolutely symmetrical face and rugged good looks that told any observer that while he was handsome he wasn't somebody to trifle with either. Bringing the glass up to his lips to take a sip he opened his eyes, revealing two unnatural irises that literally glowed with a soft blue and appeared more like something you might see on a console button rather than a person's eyes.

With a satisfied gulp, The Illusive Man sighed with content and placed the glass back upon the armrest of his chair. Tapping his cigarette to dislodge some ash into a small tray, he brought the burning paper and tobacco to his mouth, just as a distant sound echoed from behind him. The tapping of shoes on a hard surface got closer and closer, the dual sound of each footfall indicating that whoever it was wore high-heeled shoes. The Illusive Man just patiently waited without turning around or even indicating he knew of her approach in any manner. As she stopped just behind him, he removed the cigarette from his lips and exhaled a plume of wafting smoke into the air.

"You have something for me, I take it?" he asked in a voice that was both slightly rough and smooth at the same time. It was a commanding, serious voice. "Not a problem, I hope?"

"Not really," the woman replied.

The woman was tall, slim and incredibly attractive. She had striking blue eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair that framed a heart-shaped face that would most likely not only turn heads but cause them great difficulty in turning away again. Her slender legs were on show thanks to her short, tight skirt and her dress jacket hugged her torso to accentuate her curvaceous form, while the blouse beneath was buttoned low. The Illusive Man was a man of pleasures and indulgence, and he liked his woman just as much as he liked his drink and cigarettes. He always had to have the best of the best, as long as it came from Earth. He was also incredibly observant, and noticed the indecisiveness in her voice.

"What do you _mean_ 'not really?'"

"It's probably best you look at it yourself," she answered, sounding more confident this time.

The Illusive Man reached back over his shoulder and took the datapad from her. His artificial eyes scanned over it quickly and he made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat.

"This is no minuscule matter," he said, more to himself than the woman behind him. "The _entire_ quarian race. I think I'm going to need to speak with Mr. Levine directly about this, and find out exactly _how_ confident he is in this plan before proceeding further."

He took another long drag on his cigarette, shaking ash from the tip once more.

"In either case, I'd also like you to make contact with Operative Duncan as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," the woman said. "Was there anything further?"

"Just get hold of Mr. Levine and Duncan for the moment," The Illusive Man answered, handing the datapad back to her without even turning around. "I need more information first before I can make a decision."

Taking the datapad the woman gave a subtle bow, then turned and disappeared back into the darkness with the sound of departing clicks and clacks. Once the room was silent again, The Illusive Man's fingers wrapped around his glass of whiskey and he took another drink, almost emptying the glass this time.

"I must say... I hope there's some merit to this," he uttered. "I don't like interference. _Especially_ from aliens. And -after the problems you caused me recently- even more especially from quarians."

* * *

A small noise of uncertainty gurgled in the back of Dr. Haedian's throat as he frowned between datapads and pieces of paper from _Karina's_ pilot's seat. A couple of hopeful little utterances from the salarian were soon followed by a seething growl and a frustrated sigh as he thumbed through data on one of the pads, then threw it down.

"Problem?" Yalo asked curiously from a seat not far away. Lylanya stood not far behind him, leaning against the rear doorframe with her arms crossed.

"I'll either need to go there incredibly deficient in the necessitated information to successfully demonstrate and validate the theoretical account pertaining to the project, or I'll need to regroup and revise the data into a format whereby I minimize the risk of divulging confidential and sensitive data in case it is plagiarized by this human's scientists and we are rendered supernumerary."

"So... you're saying you either go with not enough info to make your case, or you take too much and risk them stealing it from under us and developing it themselves?" Yalo tried to confirm.

"Yes, that's what I said," Haedian frowned. "It shouldn't take too long for me to collate enough relevant data to get the point across and sell the concept without it being _too_ relevant if I just combine three main files and cut the oversensitive stuff. Probably best I also use a third datapad in case of human's attempt to restore deleted data, just to be safe."

"How long will that take?" Yalo queried.

"Only a few minutes actually," Haedian said, more upbeat and speaking even faster as he tapped datapads and manipulated the main console simultaneously. "Already begun transferring best candidates to fresh datapad and performing initial filtering. Will be done with console in about thirty two seconds, then once transfer is done can do the rest on the way with just two datapads. Save time that way. Will destroy primary datapad on the way, just to be certain."

After just under half a minute of furious activity, Haedian deactivated the console, threw all but a couple of datapads aside and stood up.

"Well, I'm off," he said cheerfully, walking past Yalo. "I'll let you know how it goes."

"I'm sort of counting on that," Yalo said dryly, just as Lylanya shifted aside to let the doctor past. As soon as he left the ship she turned to Yalo and shot him an irate glare.

"What was all _that_ about? All that nonsense about your people not deserving a second chance and getting what came to them?"

"It was just words," Yalo dismissed. "Just words to get him to believe us and our cause."

"You mean _your_ cause!" Lylanya snapped, storming over to him. "You actually had a chance there to possibly get your people a planet without having to enslave them, but you didn't even _try_ and take it! You could have just told him the truth, there and then! You could have just said that after it was all over and they'd got all the eezo they wanted you simply wanted the planet for your people! You could have tried to make some sort of deal!"

"That wasn't an option."

"Yes, it was," Lylanya said, poking him in the chest. "You promised me that you'd at least _find_ a way to solve this problem without resorting to enslaving your people if you could. You just walked away from a chance _right_ then!"

"It wouldn't have worked, and you're naïve if you thought it would have," Yalo countered. "Cerberus wouldn't even _consider_ the option if that were the case. Do you honestly think that they'd just _give_ a planet away to a group of 'aliens' after they were done with it? And as for striking a deal, that would involve negotiation, and would mean getting the Fleet involved in it in a voluntary manner. My people would never agree to be indentured servants to a group of humans, even if they did get a planet out of it."

"You don't know that for sure," Lylanya said.

"No, I don't. But the odds are greatly against that working. And if I'd proposed it like that there'd be no backtracking and changing the story, and the whole plan would have been ruined!"

Yalo threw his hands up in the air, then turned around and leaned on the backrest of the pilot's chair, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Besides, it misses the point entirely," he said calmly. "Like I told you before, the struggle is part of the plan just as much as the planet is. They need to fight for their freedom and earn it. Giving it to them defeats the purpose."

"I still can't believe you can do this to your own people," Lylanya responded bitterly. "To... to _use_ them like that, and deceive them."

"Like you're that much different," Yalo muttered. A fire flared into Lylanya's eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not that much different from me," Yalo said, turning back to face her. "Sure, it's on a smaller scale, but it's still essentially the same. Why do you think I wanted your help?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You manipulate, deceive and use people too," explained Yalo. "You've been doing it for years... it's what you are. What is so different from you going around and using your body and your looks and your charms to seduce all these people in order to get what you want? You even do it on a more personal level than me. You use your asari wiles to get other unsuspecting victims into believing you're going to be crawling into bed with you and when they're willing you dive into their minds and steal their personal secrets, finding out their most personal and intimate thoughts; thoughts that should _only_ belong to them. Some would consider it 'mind rape' I suppose, but of course you have them so pliable thanks to your temptress act that they pretty much just give it to you."

"That... that's different," Lylanya managed to get out, shaking with what seemed like both anger and disbelief.

"Why? Why is it different?" Yalo pressed, stepping closer. "Because it's you? Because they don't die from it? Because it's for a worthy cause?"

She didn't answer, despite moving her mouth as if she wanted to. Yalo took another step closer, until his visor was almost touching her nose.

"How many have you loved and left, Lylanya? How many have you moulded and melded, then taken from them what you wanted and vanished? How many secrets do you know that you shouldn't? How many have you left behind in anger or in tears? How many were there that fell for you -or fell for what you were _pretending_ to be- who are out there amongst the stars heartbroken and wondering why 'their Lylanya' never came back? How many?"

He paused, and all she could do was open her mouth and close it again without words, her eyes tearing up. He asked one more question.

"How many other Talia Ivanovas are there, Lylanya?"

Yalo's question managed to ignite something within the asari, who gave him a glare the likes of which he'd never seen from her. If her deep blue eyes could have burned a deep red they would have.

"How _dare_ you!" Lylanya fumed. "Do you think that I actually _liked_ that? Do you think I took pleasure in treating her like that and talking to her like I did just before we left? I only did it because of you and your stupid mission! Despite my objections to what you did, I went along with it and treated her like a used tissue, just so I wouldn't sabotage your efforts! She deserved better than that. A _lot_ better. So don't you _dare_ put this on me!"

"And I'm glad you did," Yalo said as if her comment rolled right off his back. "Make no mistake, I am by no means complaining about what you did, or how you did it. I'm not even complaining about what you do."

Lylanya looked puzzled more than anything, not knowing whether to be angry or not. Yalo put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're a very talented individual who has been very useful, and I don't begrudge your choices and methods," he told her, almost warmly. Then his voice grew colder. "All I'm saying is that you shouldn't throw your moral objections at me unless you learn to, as the humans say, 'practice what you preach.'"

Before she could even respond, Yalo simply walked past her and disappeared through the rear door, leaving her alone in the cockpit with her thoughts.


	20. Chapter 20

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Chapter 20**

The hours of Friday afternoon aboard _Karina _dragged on, a good portion of them involving Yalo and Lylanya avoiding each other; both with their own thoughts the only thing occupying them. Yalo stayed in the cargo hold, while Lylanya hadn't left the cockpit. Both knew of course that she was in the place that would receive any messages from Ivan Levine, Dr. Haedian or both about what the situation was and where things were going to go from there. It all came down to what Cerberus were going to decide, and if they backed down Yalo didn't currently have a backup plan, and he wasn't really thinking of one either. Everything was hinging on this, and as far as the quarian was concerned he needed them to accept the offer. It was as simple as that.

Yalo checked the time again with the chronometer within his helmet. It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon local time, and still there hadn't been anything. Perhaps Haedian was taking a while to convince them. Perhaps the Cerberus operative was running late. Or perhaps there had been a message and Lylanya simply hadn't told him after what he'd said to her earlier.

_It was all true though_, Yalo thought to himself. _She has no right to judge me_.

_What about me?_ another voice asked from within his head. _Do I have the right to judge you?_

"You were at least supposed to understand," Yalo whispered to the darkness. "Even if you didn't agree with my methods, you were supposed to agree with the intended results."

_How is she any different?_ Linna's voice asked from the depths of his mind. _She said that she understood. The only reason she was still helping was to try and find another way for you to succeed._

"She didn't understand though," Yalo said aloud. "If she did, then she'd know that the struggle is part of the process. Without it, the end result is meaningless."

_Is it?_

"You should know. You were the one who taught me that our people were dying and getting weaker. You were the one who told me it was my duty to come back from my pilgrimage with something that could really help them. I'm doing this because of you and for you as much as I am for any other reason."

_And do you honestly think I would want this for our people?_

"If it works, yes. And it _will_ work." He paused. "Assuming Cerberus agree."

"They may."

While feminine and familiar, the voice that responded was not in his head this time. He sat up and shifted around on the crates he was lying on to look at the doorway, where a familiar figure stood in black, leaning against the doorframe.

"I just got a message from Levine and Haedian," Lylanya stated. "They want us to meet them in Levine's office in an hour."

Both her tone and expression seemed disappointed, or at the very least uncomfortable. The message bad been delivered to Yalo in a manner that let him know that what she knew was good news for him clearly wasn't shared by her.

"Thanks," Yalo said. He soundly both appreciative and a little surprised at the same time.

Yalo got to his feet, but didn't approach her. Silence drifted between them for what seemed like an age, so much so that both distinctly noted the three distant creaks that sounded from somewhere beyond _Karina's _hull.

"You're not coming?" Yalo cut through the silence with, giving a single nod in Lylanya's direction. She gazed down her body at the asari commando armour she was now adorned in that Yalo must have been referring to.

"I haven't decided yet," she answered plainly before looking back up to him. "As much as I like a pretty dress, this is always more comfortable and more _me_."

"I was... I was surprised you hadn't tried to kick me off your ship by now actually," Yalo said. "Especially after what I said to you."

Lylanya just stared at him for a while, her face so blank that it was impossible for him to read. Eventually her eyes drifted down and to her right, and her gaze seemed to get lost somewhere in the darkness there.

"You weren't totally... inaccurate," she said, and her eyes shifted a little and then her cheeks squeezed them upwards slightly in a partial squint before she looked back at him. "At least regarding what I do and how I act. Beyond that, it will depend where it goes from here."

"Oh?"

"If Cerberus agrees and supports you, and you get what you want from Binary Helix through them," she said, her eyes looking away once more. "Then I'm leaving. I'll take you back to your ship on Tieronus, and that's the last time I'll assist you."

"Thanks," Yalo said, once again sounding both appreciative and surprised. "That's more than I'd expect. I wouldn't have blamed you for just taking off now and leaving me to find my own way back there."

"Don't tempt me," Lylanya responded, and from her tone she sounded serious. "The Goddess knows I've already done more for you as it is than I probably should have."

"Part of me appreciates it," Yalo admitted. "Though it feels more like part of somebody else that's with me to be honest."

"Your sister," Lylanya said. It wasn't a question, but Yalo nodded as if to answer it.

"Part of her is within me it seems," he explained further. "And that part of her seems a lot like you. Or you seem a lot like her. I'm not sure how it works. In either case, you remind me of her, in some ways."

"Are you saying when you disappoint me with your actions you feel as if you're disappointing her too?"

"Sort of," Yalo said, and then he sighed. "It almost feels like I'm doing this for her, but at the same time betraying her."

"Well, you _are_ kind of doing that with your people overall, are you not?"

Yalo was only silent, standing there before her as if a statue. He began to turn his head away and Lylanya spoke up once more.

"Do you have any other family or loved ones on The Migrant Fleet at the moment?"

His head stopped moving for a while before eventually finding its way back to facing her. As he gazed into her seemingly concerned eyes part of his knew that this was probably an emotional trap on her part, yet he couldn't seem to resist answering all the same.

"Just my parents," he said, his voice low and flat. There was a reluctance to him as he corrected the statement with an addendum. "And one other."

"Who is she?" Lylanya probed, and Yalo's eyes narrowed slightly at her from beyond the visor. He could see the look in her own meant there was no point in explaining the conclusion she had come to.

_She reads you like an unencrypted data terminal with full access_, he thought to himself before sighing and answering.

"Her name is Elli. Elli'Neda nar Geddes in full. She and I grew close in the years leading up to my pilgrimage. We met-"

Yalo cut himself off and cursed quietly in his helmet.

_And you don't help yourself much by saying too much_, Yalo's thoughts scolded. "We met while I was visiting another ship," he finished.

"And you can go through with this knowing what it's going to mean for them?" Lylanya asked, seeming to ignore Yalo's slip of the tongue.

"I may be lucky. Elli may still be on her pilgrimage before that happens. She was due to leave not long after I did."

"And if she isn't? And what of your parents?"

"You're not going to guilt me into stopping," Yalo said. "You think I haven't already gone over this a million times? I'd already decided this before I'd even left, when they were all fresh in my mind. I was sealing their fate as I was exchanging pleasant conversation with them."

"So you're not even going to _try_ and protect them in some way?"

"It wouldn't be protection. I'd do more harm to them in the eyes of our people if I associated them with me than I would if I were to leave them to die. I'm already going to shame my parents after this as it is, I don't need to make things worse for them by making it look like they were involved. They don't deserve that."

"It was worth a try," Lylanya sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "If I couldn't convince you to stop, I thought I could at least reduce the damage somehow. Even if I saved just one quarian from your plan, it would have been something."

"Then maybe you should just pray to your Goddess that there's a good deal of them on pilgrimage at the moment," Yalo said, victorious yet somewhat sympathetic it seemed, almost as if deep down he hoped there were too. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to prepare for this meeting."

Yalo walked towards her, and she slid out of the doorway to let him through.

"If you're coming, you'd better decide soon," he called back to her as he headed towards the cockpit. "I'll only be a few minutes."

* * *

Cerberus Operative Alan Duncan stopped his pacing back and forth along the length of Ivan Levine's conference table to pause at a fruit bowl at the centre of the furnishing. Twisting a fat purple grape off of a bunch, he tossed it into his mouth, popping it between his teeth. He reached for another, then turned to face Levine who sat casually at the north end of the table.

"Homegrown I hope?" he queried, suspicious grey eyes locked onto the fruit as if the wrong answer would result in their destruction. Levine simply nodded and Duncan grunted and took another one, this time tossing it into the air and catching it in his mouth before once again resuming his tableside amble.

The room was quiet, and mostly illuminated by the artificial lights in the ceiling rather than from any natural sources outside. Beyond the windows it had become overcast, and while there was no rain upon Cirrostratus Industries at the moment, streaky dark areas could be seen partially obfuscating other buildings no further than a couple of kilometres away. In a similar and yet contrasting way though, bright yellow streaks could also be seen beaming down through small breaches in the overhead blankets in a couple of nearby spots. Within the office itself the only things that had really changed since the early afternoon were those occupying it. Besides Levine and Operative Duncan, Dr. Haedian also sat at the table along with a human woman. A brunette with green eyes, she was sturdily built and wore the clothing of a scientist: a mostly white coat with a red stripe across the chest and down the sides of her body, with integrated black and white gloves and yellow square patches upon her upper arms with 'CS-03' upon them in black lettering.

"Are your friends usually this late?" Duncan asked Haedian as he got closer. The salarian frowned.

"They're _not_ late. You're simply impatient."

"You hear that, Mr. Levine?" Duncan said after a derisive snort. "I'm getting a lesson in patience from a _salarian_, of all races."

"Well, while I'm giving lessons I can also teach you where you can put that fruit," Haedian responded. "Here's the first clue: you're putting it in the wrong end."

"Why you-!"

"That's enough!" Levine said, getting to his feet and making the Cerberus operative stop in his tracks. "We're here to make a deal, _not_ to satisfy your own petty desires!"

"That may be why _you're_ all here," Duncan said through gritted teeth. "_I'm_ here because my boss isn't as confident that your little alien friends can pull off this stunt as you are."

"He isn't, or _you_ aren't?" Levine posed.

"If you can convince me, then you've convinced him," Duncan said. "And that goes for your new allies."

"I just hope you realise that in order to make some omelettes you don't necessarily need to break a few eggs, Mr. Duncan," Levine said, casually leaning back into his chair.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that not _every_ successful step forward for humanity requires the tossing of every alien you come across into a meat-grinder. Your boss understands this, I know."

"If he didn't, then I wouldn't be here," the operative said.

"What you boss should really do is stop performing such primitive and barbaric tests that prove nothing," Haedian chirped from behind Duncan. "For a species trying to advance yourselves, you're sure going about it in a rather backwards manner."

Duncan narrowed his eyes at the salarian, his already pale skin going even whiter at the knuckles as his fists clenched. Haedian smirked at him.

"That's right. You honestly think that your little Cerberus outfit is really so secret and unknown to The Salarian Union and the other major governments that we don't know what you've been up to? If you're going to get anywhere you need to stop being so naive for starters."

"For a so-called 'naive' organisation, you sure seem to need us though... Doctor," Duncan said from beyond clenched teeth.

"Yes. Quite," Haedian agreed reluctantly, twisting his brow.

The woman with the dark-brown hair beside Haedian was about to speak up when another voice chimed in. Belonging to a female, it sounded from all around the group rather than from any individual there.

"They're here, Mr. Levine."

"Thank you, Talia," Levine responded. "Send them in."

The single door to the room slid aside within the walls somewhere and in stepped Yalo and Lylanya, the latter back in her dress again. Ivan Levine smiled, leaning back as he swiveled his chair to face them and tapping his index fingers together.

"Yalo. Lylanya. Welcome back," he said. "Before we resume our talks, a couple more introductions are in order. Sitting beside your colleague here is Doctor Abigail Morgan, one of my chief scientists in the fields of all Cirrostratus Industries' physical sciences. Astronomy, chemistry, physics and planetary, environmental and life sciences; she knows them all."

"I must admit, for a human she's very capable," added Haedian with a polite smile.

Doctor Morgan got to her feet to shake Yalo's hand, the quarian not realising how tall she was until she was standing before him. She had to have been at least 1.8 metres in height, or just over 6 feet. As she shook Lylanya's hand too and exchanged a second pleasant greeting, Levine was already indicating the other human in their presence to Yalo.

"And this is Operative Duncan. From Cerberus."

"I hope you don't mind if I don't shake your hand," Duncan said in a manner that made it clearly he didn't really care if Yalo minded or not.

"I hope you don't mind that I'd prefer it that way," Lylanya responded bitterly.

Yalo just stood there and studied the man. He appeared to have an average build, but for some reason his arms looked really long. His eyes were a cold, steel grey and were either in a permanent hybrid of a squint and a frown or the man had simply chosen to adopt the expression ever since they'd entered. His skin was paler than that of most humans Yalo had seen, as was his hair. Slightly curly, yet short and trimmed, it was blonde all the way from the roots to the tips, suggesting it was his natural hair colour; a rarity amongst humans in modern times that was previously much more common. He wore a casual, yet tidy uniform that looked somewhat similar in design to the fatigues that Alliance military wore, though in different colours. Rather than dark greys and blues, Duncan's outfit comprised of black, white and a lighter grey, with an odd yellow insignia upon his upper arms. It comprised of a vertically-stretched hexagon, broken at the bottom by a gap and with two angular lines on either side of it, running parallel to the vertical and lower angled lines of the shape between them.

"So you're the one I have to convince to get Cerberus to help us with this job," Yalo said.

"That's right," Duncan said, one side of his mouth twisting up. "You may have our mutual acquaintance Mr. Levine here convinced, but I'm another story. And -more importantly- so is my boss."

"If he's not convinced, then why are you here?" Yalo asked, a smidge of hostility in his voice.

"He thinks it has merit, and that it's a bold concept that could really help him and Cerberus out if it worked," Levine interjected. "But he's concerned about the scale of the whole thing."

"This isn't just a few hundred or even thousand quarians we're talking about here," Operative Duncan explained further. "We're talking about your _entire_ race, spread over thousands of ships. This is either going to go extremely well, or very, _very_ bad, there's no in-between. And that's a _lot_ of ships. We need to know that the odds of your delivering are greater than the odds of you failing."

"What of the terraforming prototype?" Yalo asked, purposefully diverting the topic for the moment.

"Doctor Morgan has been shown and demonstrated by Doctor Haedian, and she feels the technology is definitely feasible," Levine answered.

"He was clever enough not to show me too much," Abigail said. "But I saw more than enough to be very impressed. I've recommended to Mr. Levine that we start working on this as soon as possible, once we've chosen and reallocated the appropriate staff, resources and funds to the project. We'd also require that Doctor Haedian supervise the project directly."

"That was the idea, yes," Yalo said with a nod. "Only he would have full access to all the information until the project is completed."

"Of course," Abigail nodded.

"There is another condition," Yalo said. "Two more, actually. First, that I will be able to come here and use the technology once it's developed if I so choose. Secondly, before Doctor Haedian joins you along with the rest of his research, I'll require a sum of twenty million credits paid to me by the end of tomorrow."

"Twenty million credits is a _lot_ of money," Levine said, raising an eyebrow.

"Money that you'll make back in no time at all," Yalo said. "I believe it's a very small price to pay considering what you're getting. Beyond that I'll ask for nothing more, no matter how successful it is. You won't have to pay me anything else with regards to this. I'll still expect my cut from the eezo profits though."

"We don't even know if it works yet," Levine said with scepticism.

"It'll work," Haedian said as if insulted. "Trust me, I've seen the tests. I've been there since day one, and it's not that far away from completion."

Levine looked from Haedian to his own scientist. She bit her bottom lip, glancing from her boss to Haedian and back.

"While I haven't seen as much as I could have to make a definite call on this, it's solid thus far," Abigail added. "It's too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Very well," Levine nodded. "You'll have your twenty million by the time you wake tomorrow morning."

"You're not doing much to convince me that this will succeed, quarian," Duncan grumbled from the other side of the table.

"I know where to strike at the fleet that will hurt them the most," Yalo answered directly.

"Which is?" Duncan asked, not sounding overly convinced.

"It won't hurt to tell you because there's nothing you can do about it without my help," Yalo explained. "Their food source, basically. The Migrant Fleet has only a few large ships called 'Liveships' that house our food supply. Take out just one and there would be mass starvation. But they're heavily guarded, so only somebody on the inside could take it down, and only a quarian can get inside. Haedian and I have already have a plan, but I'll need direct access to the Liveship first."

"How easy will it be to sabotage it?"

"That's one of the easiest parts. Once I'm inside there's basically no security, since we'd never suspect one of our own to do anything to jeopardise the Liveships. As long as I don't do anything overtly harmful, I should be able to gain full access to the insides of the ship."

"So, you take out their food supply and they'll either have to surrender or fight back, knowing that a good deal of them will starve soon after?" Duncan said.

"If we can convince them that the other Liveships can just as easily suffer the same fate, they won't have a choice. Almost all of them will starve then. It would practically mean the extinction of the quarian race. We only need to take out one to get the message across. They'll have no choice to surrender then."

"Okay, so that cripples the fleet. How do you get it there in the first place?" Duncan asked.

"Once you've secretly acquired the planet it will have changed hands, but because of the covert nature of the deal only a select few will know about it. We simply need to get Binary Helix to send an encoded message to their crew there to pull out and that they're secretly abandoning the planet due to the financial strain they're currently under. It'll say that until they can mine it it's useless to them anyway, and that they'll come back later to claim it, leaving only just enough equipment and defenses there to make it look as if they're still running the operation. I'll record this information and claim that I intercepted it while nearby, then take it back to The Migrant Fleet as a gift. To them it will look like there's basically an eezo rich world out there up for grabs, which would be irresistible to us at the moment. The Admiralty Board will doubtlessly vote to get the defenseless eezo source while they can and take the entire fleet there, where you and your ships will be waiting. Upon arrival the trap on the Liveship will be triggered and your Cerberus ships will ambush them and declare your intentions."

"What do you think now, Duncan?" Levine said, some stray sunbeams from beyond the glass glinting off his earring as he swiveled his chair around to smile almost smugly at the Cerberus Operative.

"I'll need to contact my boss about this," Duncan said, talking to Levine but with his eyes locked onto Yalo. "But I think your quarian ally might just have something here." A pause. "As much as I hate to admit it."

"So we have a deal then, Cerberus?" Yalo asked.

"You have a recommendation from me, quarian," Duncan responded sharply. "It's still up to the man in charge in the end. I'll go and report in now, then it's his call. He'll probably want to go over things in his head and sleep on it, so you'll probably have your answer tomorrow."

Duncan was already heading towards the door as he spoke, and left the room as soon as he'd finished speaking, not allowing Yalo or anybody else a chance to say anything further. Yalo's attention was drawn back to Ivan Levine who immediately spoke up as soon as the door closed behind Duncan.

"Regardless of how our arrangement with Cerberus goes, shall we organise and draw up the deal for this little project of Doctor Haedian's then?"

Yalo nodded, taking a seat, while Levine smiled and called Talia to arrange the appropriate paperwork for the deal.

* * *

Yalo was woken the next day by the sound of three dull rapping sounds reverberating through the cargo hold. He stirred, not knowing what the time was, what day it was and even momentarily where he was. The chronometer in his helmet told him that it was quarter past eight in the morning, and more memories came flashing back to him. After returning from making the deal with Cirrostratus Industries the evening before, Yalo couldn't help but feel confident about the whole thing. He felt a strange warmth within him and a satisfied sensation of victory. As far as he was concerned he'd won, the stress of his plan working out or not having been lifted off his shoulders. As the positive sensations returned to him, he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, hearing the sound of voices coming from beyond the opening that lead to the rest of _Karina_.

"Hello, asari. Is the quarian here?" It was the Cerberus Operative.

"I believe so," Yalo heard Lylanya respond, her distaste for the man evident. "Do you want to leave a message, or just wander in and strangle him because he's not a human?"

"I'm here to tell him that we have a deal," Duncan's voice said, dripping with as much contempt as Lylanya's had. "And that we've already sent a Cerberus negotiator to meet with Binary Helix. We've even provided a false, encrypted data recording of two humans posing as Binary Helix employees discussing them pulling out of the place. The quarians won't know the difference."

By that time Yalo had made his way to the scene to see Duncan handing a datapad to Lylanya. Duncan spoke up again, turning to face Yalo upon noticing his arrival.

"In order for this to work my boss wants this to be done as swiftly and efficiently as possible. He believes the longer you take to pull this off, the greater the chance of something going wrong. We're already doing our part, and he suggests you two do what you have to do and head to your Migrant Fleet as soon as you can to set things in motion there."

"Very well," Yalo said, walking forward and taking the datapad Lylanya passed him. "I assume you'll contact me as soon as you can confirm the purchase and when everything is set to go?"

"We will," Duncan said. "And we'll expect you to do the same once things are set up at your end."

"Of course. All I'll require is that you make sure the message is relayed to a different ship. I'll give you the details."

Yalo activated his omni-tool, and Duncan responded in kind to receive the information.

"I'd advise encoding it well too, Cerberus," Yalo noted when they were done. "My people are quite adept at decrypting these types of things."

"So I've heard," Duncan grumbled sarcastically. "That's all for now. If there's anything else I'll let you know."

Operative Duncan turned around and stepped out of _Karina_, not even acknowledging Lylanya in any way. The asari was tempted to trap him in the decontamination and depressurisation chamber and adjust the settings a little.

"They work fast," she stated to Yalo, closing the exterior hatch. "They almost seem to want this to succeed even more than you do."

"And that worries you, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does. At least with you I know what your motives and plans are. With them it could mean anything. It's bad enough to think how many quarians will suffer, let alone thinking about Cerberus benefiting from it as well."

"I could help but overhear," Haedian's voice added to the conversation as he wandered in from the cockpit. "I suppose you'll be leaving soon, yes?"

"I suppose so," Yalo said, his voice distant as he looked from Haedian to Lylanya. "It's only just now starting to hit me how far I've come."

"I'll start getting all my research ready then," Haedian said. "It shouldn't take long, then I'll find a place to stay here on Earth during my time working for Cirrostratus. You'll have to send me the technical schematics of the Liveship of course, but beyond that, no doubt I'll probably see you at some point in the future." He paused then looked at Lylanya.. "Oh, and there's a message on your ship's terminal. It arrived about half an hour ago."

"I'd better see what it says," Lylanya wondered, and she brushed past the salarian towards the main console.

"Good luck, Doctor," Yalo said, extending a hand. "I'll contact you in a few days with those plans."

"Thank you for giving me an opportunity to actually shine," Haedian smiled, accepting Yalo's gesture. "Finally the name 'Haedian' will go down amongst the salarian greats as it should."

"The message was from Cirrostratus," Lylanya's voice called out to the others from the cockpit. "It simply says that the credits have been transferred."

"Excellent," Yalo said. "Because they're mostly for you."

"Us?" Lylanya questioned, wandering back to join Yalo and Haedian.

"You mostly. Haedian is going to get fame and credits at is is, but I promised you credits for helping me out, and here they are. I'm finally paying you after all this time."

"Well," Lylanya smiled broadly. "I expected to get paid a good amount, but not quite _this_ much, I have to say."

"You earned it," Yalo responded.

"In that case, I'll start preparing and packing," Haedian said, and he headed back to the cockpit.

"It's kind of funny," Lylanya said, shaking her head. "After all this time and all we went through, I almost completely forgot about making credits. They started off being my primary motivation, but as time went on they just seemed to become less and less important."

"I thought curiosity was your primary motivation?" Yalo inquired.

"That was my secondary motivation," Lylanya corrected. "Credits almost always come first."

"I should probably give them to you now," Yalo said. "Since your part in this is almost over now."

"That's true," she said. "I'll take you back you to your ship back on Tieronus like I said. Then, you're on your own. A shame there wasn't to be another way."

"We've been over this, Lylanya," Yalo said.

"I know," she said, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. "I'm not going to try and talk you out of it now. I can see that would be futile at this point." Her eyes opened again. "You've come too far now to turn back due to any words I could say. The only one who can convince you to stop now is you. I just hope that what I've said has made some part of you listen, and that you may just listen to that part, even if you don't listen to me directly."

* * *

It was less than half an hour later by the time Haedian was all ready to go. After exchanging parting words with both Yalo and Lylanya he left _Karina_, and the ship left Washington D.C. and the planet Earth and set a course to the planet Tieronus again. It was a journey that took them through several mass relays, and Yalo spent most of it in the cockpit just sitting and thinking about everything that had happened and everything that lay ahead. Somewhere along the way Lylanya stepped into the room and leaned casually on the headrest of her own seat as she often had when Yalo was sitting in the other primary chair up front.

"Going to try and change my mind again?" Yalo asked, almost sarcastically.

"Not really," she answered, and then the tone of her voice became suddenly curious. "It's just that before we part ways, there's something I need to know. Something that's bothered me for a while, but I never brought up or asked you about."

"What's that?"

"You. There's more to you than there seems. There's a missing piece of the puzzle I feel I'm not quite getting."

"How do you mean?"

"You're brilliant. You've planned this out so carefully, done so well at adjusting to change and warping your plan to adapt to it. You look at things from so many angles, analyse almost all the possibilities. Simply put, you've played your game extremely well."

"Thank you, I guess," Yalo said, sounding embarrassed at the praise.

"I think you misunderstand," Lylanya said. "You're a young quarian, on his pilgrimage. You've gone out into the unknown universe for the first time. I've met quarians who have done this before, and I don't recall any of them being so adaptive, successful and, dare I say, competent. To get to the point, you're not anywhere near as naïve and inexperienced as others in your shoes I've come across. I know it was a few months after you started your journey before we even met, but still... you just seem like an enigma of sorts. Either you truly are more than the average quarian, or there's something you're not telling me."

Yalo sighed, getting to his feet to walk a few steps away from her. He seemed to take a moment to gather himself before he turned back to face her.

"You're right... I am more than the average quarian. But not in the way you may think," he began to explain. "I'm not special or gifted or anything. Merely... belated."

"Belated?"

"I delayed my pilgrimage," Yalo said bluntly. "By about three years. I'm not wiser, just older."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't content to go out there into the universe until I had a way to save our people," Yalo said with conviction. "After losing my sister I was devastated, and everything she said came back to me in a rush over the following weeks. My mind was jumbled with what she'd told me about our people dying and that I needed to do something really special on my pilgrimage and bring back something that really helped our people. Once the pain of her death began to dull and I could start thinking straight again, I began planning and researching ways to help the quarian race. That's almost all I focused on by studying our people to see what I could do. When that didn't seem to yield any answers I began to study other races as well, to see if they had any similar circumstances that I could draw parallels from in order to devise parallel solutions. It was through this and studying the struggles of other races that my plan was initially formed, but I realised it was a grand undertaking and I needed more time and research to make it succeed.

"The time for my pilgrimage arrived sooner than I had anticipated, and my parents wanted me to go out into the universe, but I wasn't ready yet. They allowed me to delay some more in order to study, research and devise my plan, not knowing what it entailed. There was no way I could tell them after all. More time passed and I requested more and more time to prepare, telling them vaguely that I was working on something that would change our people forever and that I needed to properly prepare or the whole thing would be pointless. They allowed me to stay, but the more time passed the more concerned they grew, and the more shamed they seemed to be. I was long overdue for my pilgrimage and talk throughout the nearby ships was starting to make my whole clan look bad. Some more influential quarians wanted to kick me out into the universe by force, but despite the embarrassment I had brought them, my parents stood up for me and I managed to remain aboard even longer. I became reclusive and engrossed in my work, researching and studying and formulating. Much of it was pure preparation, and simply learning and reading about the universe beyond The Flotilla.

"Eventually my parents grew so concerned that they sent me to see what I suppose would best be described as a psychologist on a nearby ship. He dealt with quarians with various problems, be they those returned from a pilgrimage having problems fitting in and adjusting to their new ships and crew, quarians with learning disabilities or who may be considered a drain on our resources due to mental or personal issues, and even some others who were reluctant to go on their pilgrimage for one reason or another. There were a few of them there too, though none had been as overdue as I had. That's how I met Elli. She was reluctant to go on her pilgrimage too, but unlike me she was afraid of going. She thought it was too dangerous out there and that she was going to die a horrible, slow death via a suit rupture or something on some lifeless rock.

"At first I sort of thought she was pathetic, but the more time I spent there the more I felt sorry for her and felt that I wanted to take care of and protect her. Part of me thought that what I was doing I was doing for quarians like her, so that future generations would never have to be scared again. We began to talk and I told her what I believed and why I was determined to save our people, which the psychologist encouraged because he could see her starting to open up more to me and see why the pilgrimage was necessary for the good of all quarians. Somewhere along the way we grew very close. Finally I felt the time was right to go and that I'd done almost all I could. I'd already brought enough shame to my parents and my clan, and everybody's persistence to get me out there had them in danger of discovering what I was up to. So I told Elli and my parents that I was going and pretty much set off.

"So, now you understand. I'm only more capable and less naïve because I put things off and spent almost every moment during the delay studying, researching and preparing when I should have already been out here. It's not exactly something I'm proud of."

"Maybe more of you should do that," Lylanya said. "You quarians would probably be a force to be reckoned with in this galaxy all of you had pilgrimages like you have."

The two didn't say much more to each other over the remaining trip, and eventually arrived on Tieronus and landed near Talan Jol's bar where _Spero_ was located. Yalo let out a sigh as he stopped before his old shuttle, then turned back to regard Lylanya for the last time.

"I guess this is it then," he said.

"I guess so," she responded.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have parted on better terms, Lylanya," Yalo sighed. "But this is something I needed to do. I've come too far and planned this for far too long to stop now for ethical reasons. I believe in my cause too much to even waver, let alone stop."

"That's the problem I think," Lylanya sighed. "The zealot is always almost impossible to change. And the longer they go on believing in their cause, the harder it becomes. I guess I was hoping that you weren't as far gone as you seemed."

"For your sake, I'm almost sorry that I am," Yalo said, and there was an odd warmth to his voice that Lylanya hadn't heard much before. Lylanya smiled a bittersweet smile then stepped forward and hugged him.

"Good-bye, Yalo. I almost want to say 'good luck' and wish you success, but I don't think I quite can," she admitted, getting a little choked up. "So I guess I'll just wish your people the best instead."

"That's more than enough," Yalo said.

The two parted and Yalo turned his back to her, opening the external hatch on the _Spero_ that hadn't moved for months. It was small and dusty inside the shuttle, but as Yalo inspected it he couldn't help but feel that in some way he was home again. Making straight for the cockpit, he sat down, closed the hatch again, and took off for the stars.

* * *

Finding The Migrant Fleet again wasn't too much of an issue for Yalo, the vast array of ships having recently been noted as being close to The Phoenix Massing cluster. Yalo would only have to take a few mass relays to jump into the system and then it was just a matter of flying the rest of the way until he came across them. They appeared on his sensors first, then as he adjusted his course and looked out ahead he eventually saw a strip of bright shimmering objects streaking against the black between the brighter shimmering stars.

"There they are," he said to himself. "I'm finally back."

Something about seeing the vaguest signs of the Flotilla churned his stomach a little. Thoughts and memories came flooding back to him from the months that had passed since he'd left, almost as clear as they were when he'd experienced them. In his mind's eye he saw the surface of Elysiala once more and remembered what it was like to stand upon his first planet and gaze out upon the seemingly endless expanse of nothingness. He remembered taking his first mercenary job even though it was simple guard duty during a negotiation, and when he first met and worked for Talan Jol. He remembered when he took his first life: a salarian mercenary during the one deal in his early mercenary career that went sour.

He remembered marveling at the turian homeworld of Palaven, having never seen such a populous planet before, and drugging the turian guarding him with a simple levo-amino injection. Images of him meeting Intarr on Iolciom and them trapping Haedian came to him, as did him signing up with Gonamida and the other krogan. He remembered Lylanya's mysterious assault on the krogan's base that led to him betraying them, the salarians raiding it soon after, followed by Intarr asking to follow him.

Next it was Lylanya's intrusion into his room at Talan Jol's bar, then the three of them going to Mannovai and infiltrating the secret Salarian Union research facility. He recalled Haedian agreeing and them escaping, Lylanya chastising him for so ruthlessly killing those in his way and then the story she told him about her past. He recalled the reactions of Binary Helix on Noveria, then going to Earth where Intarr discovered the truth about what happened to Gonamida and the others and almost killed him.

And finally, his having to -to coin a human phrase- make a deal with The Devil to get what he wanted. In order to save his people he'd worked with Cerberus, possibly the most dangerous organisation he could possibly work for given their views on aliens and dangerous experiments. But it was all going to be worth it if his plan worked.

_The gift must not be gained by harming another_, Yalo heard Linna's voice say. _Quarian or not_.

It was a sentence that had run throughout his head so many times, even before he'd left for his pilgrimage. It was the very next thought that had entered his mind when the idea to enslave his race in order to free them had come to him. He'd dismissed it himself at first, thinking the concept was too extreme. But the more he read about it happening in other cultures over time the more it burrowed into his mind and the more he believed that his people were never going to thrive again without some sacrifices. There was no simple or easy answer to their problem, and only an extreme solution would solve it.

"Perhaps this isn't a pilgrimage gift then," Yalo said aloud. "Perhaps its something else. Something more than that."

_This is it though_, his sister's voice echoed from the back of his mind. _There's no turning back once you go aboard one of those ships_.

"I know," Yalo said firmly. "I'm prepared for that."

_Are you sure?_

"Yes. I'm sure."

_Then why do you still hear the niggling doubts? Why do you still hear the thoughts that tell you to turn back and tell you that this is wrong? Why do you still hear my voice?_

"Because part of me still regrets what needs to be done," Yalo admitted. "Part of me wishes it didn't have to be this way."

_And part of you believes that it doesn't have to be this way._

"No! You're wrong!"

_Look inside yourself, Yalo. Deep down you know there's always another way. You've never believed in only one answer to a problem._

"Shut up! Stop telling me what to think!"

_She was right, you know. The only one who can change your mind is you. You can still turn around before it's too late. You can still find another way._

"Get out of my head!" Yalo yelled, grasping at the side of his helmet and becoming stuck in a struggle halfway between trying to rip it off and trying not to. "There _is_ no other way! The only way is forwards!"

_You don't believe that. You've merely convinced yourself that you have, but deep down... you don't_.

"Stop it!"

"Shuttlecraft Spero, you are entering a restricted area. Your ship is identified as being under the possession of Yalo'Pala nar Lerta. Verify."

The voice came through on the ship's communications system. Yalo went to to manipulate the control panel but froze. Linna's voice returned.

_You could make it easy on yourself. Just give him the wrong phrase and they'll open fire. All it takes is once message and it's all over._

Yalo remained paused, only a few millimetres away from activating communications.

"I repeat, Spero," the voice said again. "Verify."

Yalo thought for a few seconds more, his hand twitching a little. Finally, it made contact with the glowing interface.

"From star to star I ventured to seek the knowledge that was not here; now I bring that knowledge back with me so that it remains forever."

There was a long silence after Yalo had spoken his message before the same voice came back through the speakers.

"Verified. Welcome back, Yalo'Pala nar Lerta. Your parents aboard the Lerta welcome you too."

"Send my regards," Yalo said. "I would like permission to dock with the Rayya, if possible."

There was another pause, though not as long this time.

"Permission granted," the voice from the other end said. "Proceed."

Yalo sighed, and then Linna's voice returned.

_Can you really do it, Yalo? Can you really go ahead with this knowing that it's going to doom our race to suffering and death?_

"No it's not! It's going to save them!"

_You believe too much in the cause of your task to give up, but do you really believe so much in the means and methods you're using?_

Yalo paused, his hands once again clasped around his helmet and his breathing heavy. The specks before him were closer and seemed larger, and he could even make out the vaguest shapes of some of the larger ships, including the massive Liveships. He just stared out at them for a while, his mind again going over everything at a fantastic speed.

"I can't..." he uttered, and then sighed.

"Can't what?"

"I can't turn back now. I've come too far, he responded."

It wasn't until after he'd already finished speaking his mind clicked. Those last words weren't a voice in his head, but were real and spoken. He spun around to see Lylanya standing there at the rear of the compartment, a sad look of concern on her face.

"What are _you _doing here?" he exclaimed. "How did you get aboard?"

"I used this," she said, raising her forearm to point at a familiar device on her wrist. "As soon as you disappeared inside your ship I activated it and snuck aboard before you could close the hatch. I've been hiding in the rear compartment ever since. Regarding your first question, I'm here to make one last attempt to try and change your mind."

"You're wasting your time then, my mind is already made up," Yalo said firmly. "As I just said, I can't turn back now because I've come too far. I've worked too hard and set up too much in place to give up. And if my dead sister who I cared about and loved more than anybody else that's ever existed in this fragile universe can't convince me, then nothing you can say will be able to either."

Yalo turned away from her and looked back out at the ever closing ships before him.

"I'm sorry, Lylanya," he said.

"So am I," she responded with a regretful sigh, closing her eyes.

Yalo abruptly heard a whirring and snapping sound behind him and he spun around to see Lylanya with her gun held out at arm's length and pointed directly at him. Yalo took a couple of steps back and paused, and he could see her expression had changed from concern to a more stern visage.

"I can't let you do this, Yalo!" she said. "I can't let you enslave your entire race! I gave you chance after chance after chance, and yet you persisted! Now... I have no choice but to _force_ you to stand down directly."

"You're going to _shoot_ me if I don't stop?" Yalo asked.

"That's right. If I have to," Lylanya responded. "Don't make me have to."

"Just because of your moral values?"

"If it were only that simple," Lylanya sighed, shaking her head. "No, when I said that I couldn't let you do this, I really meant it. I'm _obligated_ to stop you."

Yalo was about to ask what she was talking about, but stopped when he noticed her reaching into a pouch on her right thigh with her free hand. She produced something small, black and rectangular from it, then flicked her wrist to open it, exposing a small, silver badge. The light flared off its surface and as Yalo looked carefully he realised he's seen the symbol once before, all the way back on Bersilius through the scope of his sniper rifle. It had been on the breastplate of the armour worn by the salarian leading the strike force that captured Gonamida and the other krogan.

"Oh no..."

"Yes, I'm a Spectre," Lylanya said, putting the badge away. "I work for The Council, and I can't let you take this any further."

"If you're a Spectre- If you've _been_ a Spectre all this time, why are you doing this now?" Yalo asked angrily. "Why didn't you stop me _ages_ ago? You've known my plan since Noveria! You've even _helped_ me carry it out! Why now?"

Lylanya sighed and her arm dropped slightly. She quickly corrected and straightened it firmly again and Yalo could see disappointment on her face.

"Because I did something I shouldn't have," she said with reluctance. "I let it get personal and I let you get to me."

"I don't understand?" Yalo asked.

"Dammit! I started to believe in you and what you were trying to do!" Lylanya said, sounding more like she was condemning herself than explaining to him. "Not _how_ you were doing it of course, but the overall goal. At first it was curiosity and merely wanting to find out what you were doing. All because of what Doctor Haedian told me while I was taking him back to Mannovai. He didn't know I was a Spectre and starting going on about what he was doing. I was initially going to continue investigating him if possible or at least report what he said back to The Council, but he also brought you up. He said you had some major plan to save your people and how mysterious it was to everybody. I was intrigued, so I found you again and tried to get the information out of you. When I discovered that you wanted to track down Haedian again, I thought I could cover both angles at once, and that I could get you to help me investigate Haedian and the secret project The Salarian Union were unofficially working on at the same time. You wanting to get Haedian aboard only made it easier.

"Once that was done I was still curious about your plan, so I stuck around, wondering what it could be. My curiosity got the better of me, especially with you going on about how supposedly dark the nature of it was. By the time you had revealed the true nature of your intentions I realised that I had to stop you, but I couldn't help but admire your overall goal and wonder if there was some way to make your plan work and to give your people a homeworld without the need to enslave them. I felt sorry for your people and wanted to help them too, so I kept helping you with the hope there would be another way. On top of it all you seemed to come across new information that The Council would be very interested in with almost every step. The Salarian Union, Binary Helix, Cirrostratus Industries and, most of all, Cerberus. These were all organisations opening up to you and thus giving me an opportunity to gather crucial intel for The Council.

"But in the end most of it all was just excuses for me to keep going when I should have stopped you long ago. I got emotionally invested in the goal of your quest when the mission is supposed to come first and nothing else should matter. I was supposed to be a rock and maintain my facade. For years and years I've been able to do it without issues... it's been my greatest strength. Some Spectres are like police without any leashes and some are unstoppable machines of destruction who let nothing get in their way. I wasn't supposed to be _either_ of these types. I'm the type of Spectre who takes on a role and plays it to get what she wants, and when necessary uses her charms and special gifts to manipulate people into giving up what they usually wouldn't. I'm supposed to blend in when I need to, and stand out when I want to. I'm supposed to be under the radar and never be myself. But the more I worked with you the more my facade slipped. I became more and more like myself and less and less like the Spectre I'm _supposed_ to be.

"So there's your answer, Yalo. I'm bringing you in now because up until now I've failed at my job because I simply let myself have an opinion of the things going on around me, rather than being a good little agent for The Council. Because that's what I'm supposed to do and what I'm supposed to be: I'm supposed to give up my life so that others can live theirs. And now I have to make up for it."

"So everything you told me before was a lie then?" Yalo asked.

"Not everything," Lylanya sighed. "Those stories about my past, they were all true. I really did get brought up on Thessia by my mother and get sent to join the military after attacking a drunk turian investor. I really did run away from asari commando training and become a mercenary. And I really did kill my best friend over a stupid misunderstanding."

She paused to compose herself, blinking away a few tears.

"And a few years later, when I was at one of the lowest points in my life, I got noticed by a turian Spectre I was sharing a cell with. We had both been captured by batarian slavers, and neither of us really knew who the other was. To escape I seduced the guard and read his mind, allowing me to input the code that allowed us to escape. He killed the slavers and freed all the slaves, and afterwards he told me what he was and how much I had impressed him. I was a bit older and wiser then, and the idea of finally doing something to help people appealed to me. I thought that perhaps this way I could somehow make up for what I had done to Dri'ala by making the galaxy a safer and better place. After some training and hard work I eventually became a Spectre myself."

"So the real you doesn't like to kill?" Yalo queried.

"No, I don't," Lylanya said. "I will always find another way if it can. That's probably another reason why I waited so long to stop you: I was looking for another way."

"Then I think I'll refuse your offer," Yalo responded, and he whipped out his own pistol and trained it on her as well.

"Don't be foolish!" Lylanya growled. "I'm still a Spectre. I don't _want_ to kill you, but I will if I have to."

"I don't believe you will," Yalo said confidently. "You're too much of a pacifist. It's not your way to just kill me like this."

"Dammit, Yalo! It doesn't have to go down like this. You've lost, now just put the gun away and come with me. It's over."

Lylanya's teeth were gritted and her hand was beginning to shake. He looked into her eyes to see if he could read her, but all he could see was frustration and anger. For a while they just stood there, guns on each other in silence. Lylanya shook her head slowly at one point and mouthed something quietly that Yalo couldn't pick up, but if he'd read her lips right it looked something like "don't do this." The silence was eventually pieced by a voice coming through on the ship's communications system, different from the one before.

"Shuttlecraft Spero, you are entering docking range and our systems note you are still on autopilot. Please switch to manual control."

"Excuse me," Yalo said. "If I don't deal with this, we'll _both_ be killed."

He slowly turned around to manipulate the control panel behind him, while keeping his gun on Lylanya the whole time. She stared out past him and finally noticed how close they were to The Migrant Fleet now. At least two dozen large ships drifted before her, all facing the same direction like a line of elegant metallic tadpoles within a speckled pond of ebony. Most notable was one of the Liveships, which had to have been one of the largest vessels even Lylanya had seen in her long lifetime. A gigantic sphere the size of some small moons gradually rotated at the front of it, surrounded by a ring around the centre and trailed by the same compartmentalised tail as most of the other ships surrounding it. They appeared to be heading towards the very heart of the fleet, where the most important ships were.

"Yalo to Rayya. You'll require a quarantine team in the docking bay, I have a... companion with me."

There was a pause.

"Acknowledged," the voice responded. "A quarantine team will be there in a few minutes. Upon docking, please wait until signalled before opening your airlock."

Yalo carefully manoeuvred his vessel towards one of the _Rayya's_ docking tubes and connected with it, then shut down the engines.

"You'll have to stay aboard while I rejoin the fleet," Yalo said to Lylanya as he turned back to her.

"You're not going to rejoin them," Lylanya responded. "I can't let you do this."

"And I can't let you stop me, Lylanya," Yalo said. "The only way you're going to stop me is if you shoot me, and I don't think you're going to do that."

"I will if you don't stop this _right_ now!"

"Remember how this went the first time we met?" Yalo asked. "You couldn't shoot me then, and you won't shoot me now."

"I'm giving you one last chance, Yalo," she answered. "Stop. This. Now."

"No."

Lylanya sighed, then frowned in determination. The next few moments went by in only a few seconds, but the entire experience seemed to travel in slow-motion for both of them. The muzzle of Lylanya's pistol flared with a bang, causing a blue shimmer to appear between it and Yalo. Yalo's pistol fired soon after and then the wall behind Lylanya sparked. Another shot fired from the asari's weapon directly at Yalo's head just as the quarian realised what had happened, and he moved his gun partially to his left to fire another shot, as his kinetic barriers flashed again. When the wall simply sparked again he began to sweep his weapon to the right, but before he could fire Lylanya's weapon fired a third time and there was no longer anything to stop the sliver of mass accelerated metal from hitting its mark.

Yalo's visor was punctured right in the centre, and he stumbled backwards. For a moment his body just seemed to stand there, the slightly cracked hole in his helmet almost staring at Lylanya like a single, black eye. The gun in his hand swiveled and rocked on his fingers and then his whole body crashed to the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been freshly cut. Yalo's head swung lifelessly to the side on the ground and something glinted from the hole in his helmet shortly before a thin stream of thick dark liquid ran out of it and trickled onto the floor.

Lylanya touched her wrist, and her image shimmered into nothingness, while another shimmer just to her left became her again. She stared down at Yalo's body with wide eyes, filled not with joy or satisfaction, but with the first droplets of bitter tears. Her lips began to quiver and the only sound besides a distant hum that filled the ship was a mournful sobbing. Her eyes drifted from the body and focussed on her weapon, and she stopped weeping to regard the weapon for a moment, holding it closer to her face: jet black, with a horizontal green stripe that angled down the handle. Her lips and lower eyelids quivered again, and just as she looked about to cry again she instead frowned, and then the frown turned into anger.

Lylanya screamed in rage at the gun, then drew her arm back and threw it across the other side of the room, letting it clatter against the wall and rebound off the panels and scarce furniture in the place. The end of her scream melded slowly into a steady sobbing as she stumbled back against the left wall, collapsing against it and sliding down onto the floor. Clasping her knees to her chest and letting the tears flow, she just let all her emotions out until the quarians arrived.

* * *

A few hours later, in an unknown sector of space, a lone figure sat and waited, smoking a cigarette and gazing out upon swirling flames upon a shifting orb. The sound of high heels upon a hard surface brought a datapad to his hands, and his glowing blue eyes scanned across it before they were partially obscured in a frown. The datapad was sent over his shoulder and he blew out a plume of grey smoke.

"Cancel the operation," The Illusive Man said. "I want Operative Duncan informed ASAP, and there to be as little linking this to us as possible even quicker. Keep the eezo secured though. There's no reason we can't still benefit from this in _some_ manner."

The datapad disappeared along with the fading sounds of shoes on floor, leaving The Illusive Man alone once again with his smoke and his thoughts, and yet another reason to dislike the quarian race.


	21. Epilogue

**Mass Effect  
****Digression**

Written By Kenneth White

**Epilogue**

It had been almost two weeks since Lylanya had left The Migrant Fleet. Upon entering the _Spero_ the quarians had initially been both confused and hostile at the scene of a crying asari and one of their own lying dead on the floor, but things calmed down a bit as soon as they saw the Spectre insignia she carried. The quarians informed the captain, who thought it best to keep things quiet for the moment. Lylanya was unofficially brought to see The Admiralty Board where she told them all she could. It wasn't a trial, but to her it felt like one, but she knew in a way it would be good practice for her reporting back to The Council. It had been decided to not let Yalo's intentions spread, and to merely tell his family and those that knew him that there had been a docking accident.

Having returned to Citadel space, Lylanya had sent her report to The Council on the whole affair. Over the past week and a bit they had dealt with certain aspects related to the recent events that had taken place that she couldn't do alone. Lylanya had hoped the whole thing was behind her now and that she could move on and forget it all, but now that it was all taken care of, she had been summoned for a follow-up personal meeting with one of The Council representatives to finally put it all to rest.

Lylanya walked into a dark room, stepping into a soft beam of brightness in the centre that was the only source of light. This light streamed down from somewhere above and seemed to dissipate instantly; the transition from the edge of the beam instantly becoming pitch black. Lylanya stood there for about ten seconds by herself, looking ahead at nothing with no hint of emotion upon her face and adorned in her asari commando armour. A green-striped pistol hung from her hip. Another bright light flared into existence, appearing ahead and above her. There was nothing in the light, but instead the light itself formed a humanoid figure; feminine in form and wearing long, elegant robes. There was no natural colour to the form, instead it taking on a peachy hue. It's eyes were an almost blinding white glow rather than having any discernible pupils or irises, and the overall projection itself was almost twice the actual size of the individual being represented.

"Agent Lylanya Alanthios of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. Thank you for coming."

"Of course. I serve The Council."

"Before we begin on your mission report, I feel that I should tell you that your field-testing of the prototype image-shifter has produced some interesting results. Your feedback has been interesting, but we're not sure how practical the device will be and need further testing. The main concern is that tech-based tactical cloak technology has actually made a few leaps and bounds in the last half a year or so, so we have to way up the costs and benefits of both and see how feasible and functional it is in comparison. As of now we have given another two Spectres these devices for testing. You may continue to use yours if you like, though I'd recommend getting it upgraded, since we've made a few improvements on it since last time.

"Now, onto the matter at heart. We've gone over your reports from what has been often referred to lately as 'The Yalo Disturbance' amongst The Council. I'm not entirely sure how much you know of how the events outside of your own influence have played out, so I hope you'll forgive me if I go over some of the key points your report I feel need clarification and discussion, and then relate it to the events in question."

"Of course," Lylanya nodded.

"Very good. According to your report, you met the quarian Yalo'Pala nar Lerta while on your mission to extract the salarian scientist Doctor Haedian from the krogan gang led by Durrlex Gonamida. Yalo was not affected by the gaseous substance you used to disable the krogan, and you were forced to negotiate with him in order to retrieve Doctor Haedian. Later when Agent Vaetorals and his squad assaulted the base, Yalo and one other krogan simply known as 'Intarr' were not present, and somehow escaped said assault. While returning Doctor Haedian to Mannovai, he began to speak of his work with The Salarian Union, unaware of you being a Spectre. He also spoke of the quarian Yalo, and told you of this quarian's plans to save his people. After returning Haedian to Mannovai, you contacted us again to report and received additional orders to find and infiltrate The Salarian Union's base on Mannovai. Is this correct so far?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, your next step wasn't staying on Mannovai and discovering the base, but instead tracking down this quarian who you'd met and then heard so much about. Can you explain why you came to that decision?"

"Haedian had told me a lot about Yalo on the journey as I had said. What I had heard intrigued me, and I thought his intentions were worth further investigation. He also seemed like a very capable individual in my prior run-in with him, especially when it came to tech-based skills. I thought that I could perhaps seduce the information out of him, and even get him to help me find Haedian by planting an idea that Haedian was the key to his plans in his mind. It half-worked."

"You then go on to say that you agreed to help this quarian with his own quest, citing that 'curiosity' was the main driving factor for it," the hologram said. "Tell me, Lylanya... had you initially planned to help him see his mission through as far back as that, or was it merely a ruse on your part that, for one reason or another, didn't end?"

"It had initially intended to be a ruse on my part, yes," Lylanya answered. "But by the time we were almost through accomplishing my primary objective, Yalo's own plan had become more than a growing interest to me. He purposefully kept the true nature of it veiled, but continuously intimated at a very dark nature to it. It was clearly no small feat, and he was clearly determined. Before we even had Haedian and the answers to what he had been up to in secret, I had already come to the conclusion that Yalo could no longer be ignored, and that if anything _he_ was up to something far more critical and worth investigating."

"I see," the figure of light responded. "To skip ahead a little, you later go on to say that at some point the interest became personal. When exactly did this happen?"

"I... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No, I don't," Lylanya said firmly. "If mere curiosity was the genesis of it becoming personal, then as soon as Haedian told me about him en route to Mannovai. Beyond that, I can't answer that. When does a thought become a memory? When do you go from merely liking somebody to being in love with them? Where does one day stop and another begin? The answer is in there somewhere."

"But you do fully admit that it _did_ become personal for you. You admit that somewhere it became less about being a Spectre and more about you doing what you wanted to do. You specifically say in your report -and I quote- that 'genuine reasons to follow him personally became less and less genuine and more and more personal.' Why did this happen?"

"Curiosity at first, like I said," Lylanya admitted. "The further things went and the more they unravelled and yet didn't, the more I wanted to know. On top of it all he had a charisma to him, and something that made you want to follow him. I don't even think he realised he had it himself. There was a determination and strength to him, and deep down he was fighting for a noble cause. By the time I found out the nature of it and what he was _actually_ planning on doing, I was already pulled in. I knew I had to stop him, but then I thought about what he was trying to accomplish and thought that perhaps he could save his people another way, through another means. And I wanted to help him with that."

"So you admit to helping him see out his plan, knowing full well what he was trying to do?"

"Yes," Lylanya said, and she paused, then continued on somewhat reluctantly. "I think, in some ways... I admired him a little more for what he was doing when I found out. Not because of what it was, but for the nature of it. I could relate to it."

"How so?"

"Because deep down we weren't that different," Lylanya said. "We were both doing things we regretted for what we perceived to be the greater good. I serve The Council, trying to make the galaxy a better place, but I often have to do things that I regret to get results. He was doing the same thing to help his people. I didn't like it, but I could understand and relate to it. Especially when he brought it to my attention. He got to me on a personal level I haven't felt for a long, _long _time, and for the first time in decades I felt like I could be myself, as much as I tried not to. I suppose the main thing is I at least managed to hide the side of myself _you_ wanted me to."

"I see," the glowing figure said, and there was a long pause before she spoke again. "Despite all of this, you managed to uncover a rather disturbing and insidious plan by this quarian, even if you intentionally helped it along the way. This eventually led to the involvement of two major corporate powers, namely Binary Helix and Cirrostratus Industries, and then eventually the human terrorist organisation Cerberus. I suppose you'll be wanting to know what came of our work in chasing down these parties?"

"I would," Lylanya admitted with a sheepish nod.

"Well, Binary Helix are fairly well in the clear it seems. They never agreed to sell their eezo-rich planet to Yalo, and in fact -according to your report- outright _refused_ to for reasons that all of us I'm sure would admit are correct. They did sell it to Cerberus, but in doing so they never directly broke any laws. If anything they've benefitted from this whole affair, since Cerberus paid a lot of money for something they couldn't even afford to take advantage of anyway. Ironically, now they probably could, but they no longer possess it."

"What of Cerberus themselves?" Lylanya asked.

"We haven't managed to find or track down this 'Operative Alan Duncan' you mentioned, unfortunately, and beyond that the organisation seems to be laying low. They own the eezo-filled rock now of course, and our sources report that is has definitely been secured by a group of humans that _could_ be Cerberus, but there's not enough evidence to prove it. As of now all they've done is secure the place, there's no indication of any illegal or questionable operations taking place there. We'll continue to watch, but for now, that's all we can do. Besides all of that, it's located in The Terminus Systems. We have no jurisdiction there. The best we can hope for is that somebody bigger than them comes along and bullies them out of it."

"And Cirrostratus?"

"They've taken the biggest fall by far. More from the press than anything. They got wind of Ivan Levine being linked to Cerberus, and his reputation has taken a nosedive from it. The company is already starting to struggle and Levine's entire share market is crashing and burning. Then there's his working on unsanctioned technology, thanks to our friend Haedian's involvement with the whole thing. The Salarian Union of course fully denied they had anything to do with the prototype at all, used Haedian as a scapegoat."

"But Haedian has evidence in his possession that proves they were developing it first!"

"Yes he did, which he's used to by amnesty from us. His involvement is all going to be kept very under the radar. The Salarian Union has since seen the evidence and finally admitted to the research. The Council is still debating what to do about it at this time. Overall the crime is rather minor, since the technology isn't strictly illegal, but is merely unsanctioned and unapproved by The Council. Especially since all evidence points to the device actually being used for what it was intended. The most likely outcome is that all research related to the project will be seized and destroyed, and that Council appointed inspectors will make mandatory inspections of all salarian research facilities for a set period of time."

"So where is Haedian now?" Lylanya asked.

"I don't know, actually. He bought his freedom, and we honoured that agreement. He could be anywhere."

"Is there anything else?"

"There is just one more thing to speak to you about, yes. The Council wishes to at least acknowledge that your mission was a success, even if you performed in a rather unorthodox manner. We are, however, concerned by this. While your delayed action in these matters may have actually given us a good result, it also ran the risk of causing a lot more harm than good. Had you hesitated to do your job any later the results could have been catastrophic. That being said, you are a Spectre, and it is your call how you deal with things. The important thing is that we got results, but we urge caution next time nonetheless. We appreciate your honestly and openness in giving a full report, which is something not all Spectres do, and sometimes we prefer it that way too.

"The Council feel the more crucial matter here is not the way you went about things, but the fact that you let the job get personal; something you fully admitted to in your reports. You are a Spectre first and foremost, and mustn't let any personal feelings get in the way of the mission. This is why The Council had decided to grant your request of three weeks leave, effective immediately. You will then return to the service of The Council as a Spectre, as well as assume a new identity. We feel you may have overexposed yourself on this mission and need a blank slate before you can continue your work. Use this time wisely, Lylanya, and learn from your mistakes. By the time you return, you must once again be prepared to put your feelings, your beliefs and your opinions aside for the sake of the galaxy. That is what you have been trained for, that is what you are. Don't forget that."

"Yes, ma'am," Lylanya nodded firmly.

"Very good. You are dismissed."

"Before I leave, may I speak candidly?" Lylanya queried.

"Yes?" the figure of light said curiously.

"I just wanted to say that he was right," Lylanya stated firmly. "Yalo, I mean. About the quarians. They've been exiled from The Council for three _hundred_ years! Haven't they suffered enough?"

"That's not for you to decide," the voice said back, booming and devoid of emotion.

"Who does get to decide that?" Lylanya stressed. "Who _will_ decide that? Why are we continuing to punish the quarians for a mistake they made so long ago? Of course the salarian government is probably only going to get a slap on the wrist for what they just did, yet the quarians get kicked out of the club permanently for circumstances that aren't much different. Are they still serving an unjust, overly harsh sentence, or have they merely been forgotten? Or is it just because they weren't as important as the salarians are?"

"You have said enough! Leave!"

"Who cries for the quarians who are still paying for _one_ little mistake that nobody else cares about any more? Who? If The Council hadn't forced them to adrift without any help at all, then Yalo wouldn't have _needed_ to take such extreme steps to save his people!"

"Spectre!"

"_You_ are the cause of this! _You _ the ones who created this problem, and still complain when you have to clean up the mess! They deserve another chance, and all you have to do is _give_ it to them!"

"Agent Alanthios! Leave _now_! This is your final warning!" A pause. "As I said, it is not for _you_ to decide!"

The room went dark, and soon after a semi-rectangular opening appeared at the edge of it, with brightness beyond. Lylanya sighed and slowly made her way towards it, disappearing into the light. On the other side a turian adorned in red and blue robes greeted her. He had dark blue eyes, and an unmarked face of pure dirt-brown complexion.

"How did it go, Miss Alanthios?" he asked.

"Better than I hoped, worse than I feared," she said, standing before him like the very life had been sucked out of her. "But I've got my time off to think about things."

"Anything I can do to help?" the turian questioned.

"Yeah. See if you can charter me a flight to Earth, as soon as you can. Washington D.C. if possible."

Lylanya stood up a bit taller, then twisted her neck, a more determined look on her once seemingly defeated face.

"I have somebody I need to apologise to."

The turian gave a polite bow, turned around and swiftly left. Lylanya turned about and walked to a large window that looked out at the void of space. She placed her palm against the glass and gazed out at the shimmering specks, nestled amongst gentle interstellar clouds of navy blue and deep purple.

"There are too many lives out there for me to make up for," she sighed. "But still... I have to try."

**Author's Notes**

That's it. It's finally done, after almost two years. I'd like to thank all the readers who have followed me through this journey; one that started before we even really knew anything much at all about Mass Effect 2 beyond the fact it was coming. I'd also like to thank any readers who haven't started this story until after I've already written these notes. To those who gave me feedback, extra special thanks, and even more thanks to those who were willing to give constrictive criticism and point me where I went wrong.

Super special thanks to Christina Nordlander-Dawson, who has sort of been somewhat of an unofficial editor for this story for me, even though she hasn't even played the games or read the existing novels. I never really considered a chapter complete until she'd at least gone through it and given me some feedback and then I'd edited it again in response.

Thanks to BioWare for making the two games on which this novel was based on, particularly the lead writer for the original game and writer of the (so far) three official novels: Drew Karpyshyn. I always loved your style, and I'd like to think it's influenced my own for this fan novel. Thanks to BioWare Social Forums members GodWood and Calla S for contributing two of the characters featured in the final chapter after heeding my call (namely Operative Alan Duncan and Dr. Abigail Morgan respectively).

Finally, I'd also like to outline to you, the reader, what my basic objectives were for this story. I like to say that first up I prefer to think of it as an unofficial, online novel rather than a fan fiction, but in the end that's for you to decide. In either case, here's the basic story behind the story Mass Effect: Digression.

The idea actually came to me shortly after reading the second official novel, Mass Effect: Ascension. I was already a big fan of the quarians and this book opened them up even more than the first game and galactic codex already had. The basic idea and concept that enslaved people often rise up against their oppressors due to the overall driving need for freedom had often intrigued me, and I thought that I could apply this to the quarians, and also make the story somewhat of a mystery by not actually revealing the concept until past halfway through it. I basically came up with the concept of the main character of Yalo, decided to write up a single, first chapter to see how it came together and then would see where things went from there. The first chapter seemed to write itself, and fans were interested, so it grew from there.

One I had it started, I immediately wanted to achieve three basic things with this story. If I could do this, I felt the story would be a success. Again, it's up to you, the reader, as to whether these goals were attained or not, but here they are.

1) To make the story fit in with the canon and mimic the official novels. I wanted a story every Mass Effect fan could enjoy by doing it in the same style that Drew has and exploring more of the Mass Effect universe with fresh characters that don't interfere with established canon. This was the main purpose I felt, and the first basic rule and concept from the very start. I have no interest in writing about my Shepard because my Shepard doesn't appeal to everybody on the same level. An original story with original characters can, because every reader can enjoy it on the same level. I also wanted to make it somewhat epic and grand in scale, but not so much that it interfered with the games and the main story and wouldn't contradict other people's Shepards. Simply put, I wanted readers to be able to make it a story that could be unofficial canon to them... sort of an unofficial novel.

2) To make a story with almost no human characters set in the Mass Effect universe and keep it interesting. While there are humans in the story, all the main ones are aliens. I thought it was fairly easy to centre a story around a human and make readers identify with them, but it would be more of a challenge to make most of the main cast aliens and push humans into the background. The official storyline deals with humans a lot, as do Drew's novels, so I wanted to try and explore some rather different territory. In fact in gereral a lot of stories -especially sci-fi ones- purposefully put humans at the centre stage, and I wanted to break that trend. I'd like to think that this story has proved that you don't need a human as the focus to keep fans interested.

3) To create a story where there is no villain because the protagonist is also the antagonist. The main character in the story isn't exactly what you'd call a noble or even good "person" so while he is technically the protagonist of the story, he's also in some ways the villain as well. He's quite often conflicted and has goals that are understandable and even admirable, but the methods he uses are more than a little questionable. He's torn and knows what he's doing is wrong, but he feels it is necessary. If any body is the hero of the story it's actually Lylanya, not Yalo, so in a way the hero of the story isn't the main character but instead the supporting one.

That about covers it I think. Once again, thank you all. Keep reading, and here's to Mass Effect 3 (and it hopefully not contradicting anything in my story too much).

- Kenneth White


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